


Along Came a Spider

by NanixErka



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Autistic Papyrus, Baby blaster, Child Abuse, Comfort, Dyslexic Papyrus, Easily scared Tuffet, Experimentation, Gaster Blaster AU, Gaster Blasters, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Pap is 6, Rating and warnings might change, Sans is 10, Scientist Gaster, Sibling Love, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tuffet has anxiety, Tuffet is 12, baby blaster au, night terror sans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-10 04:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 29,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5570680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanixErka/pseuds/NanixErka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tuffet the spider - having recently been kicked out of her home because Spider Tradition- just started living on her own, and takes in two seemingly lost shape shifting skeletons after she comes home to them crashing on her couch. She knows they're keeping secrets, and they know the same about her, but when you only have each other, some trust has to build, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I give you my couch. Please don't ruin it

Being a spider was tough. 

Traditions dictated how Tuffet lived her whole life. I mean, really? Being kicked out at age twelve? Why? Because Spider Tradition, that's why. You’d only be worthy of your family if you lived to adulthood by yourself after you turned 12 (in spider years, of course). I mean, it didn’t help that half the family was trapped in the ruins and that included the only reasonable family she had (They exchanged telegrams), and that she wasn’t exactly social with most of them. Particularly her cousin, Muffet (Yes, cousin). They just never saw eye to eye. So when she was kicked out, she didn’t have any family to lean on

Lucky for her, she had help

I mean, befriending the KING OF THE UNDERGROUND on accident never hurt anyone, right? 

She had been a wee little thing, then (even littler than she was now), and he’d found her in the judgement hall, beyond lost with a crack in her exoskeleton - her HP low after accidentally colliding with an excitable fish-girl about her age. The compassionate king brought her into his home, and gave her some of his golden flower tea, best tea in the underground, and best HP healer as well. He’d enjoyed their little conversation, and when Tuffet asked if she could come again, he didn’t oppose. That had been nearly 4 years ago. 

When Tuffet turned 12, King Asgore surprised her with perhaps the greatest gift she’d ever been given - a house, and a job. It was a small house, located just off the swamp in Waterfall near the Tem Village, but it was more than enough. So much more than enough that the little spider girl used all of her arms to hug the king and thank him over, and over, and over. Her job? His personal mail carrier. She went to the capital every day at 11 AM, picked up mail, and delivered it all over the underground. It was a fun job, if tiring, but Tuffet knew this was temporary until she was old enough to get a job on her own. And she was ever-grateful to the kind king that she’d befriended

She’s only lived there 3 months before her life changed again. 

\--

Adjusting her thick glasses as she approached her home, Tuffet was just plain exhausted. It had been a very long day, having to deliver most of her letters in Hotland. Those puzzles never got easier, she swore on it. It also didn’t help that she got lost in the core again. She found her way out on her own this time, so that was good!

When she went to unlock her door.. it was open

A slight flood of panic went through her. She tried to remember if she’d locked it this morning or not. Her panic quickly subsided, remembering the “wall”, and she walked inside. Her footsteps her light, but stopped promptly as she stared at her sofa

lying on her sofa were two …. bone dogs? That was the best way to describe them. They had heads that vaguely reminded Tuffet of cow skull pictures she’d seen in human books that she’d gotten at the dump, but at the same time completely different. Their spines were sharp, and so were there claws, which made Tuffet very briefly worry for the integrity on her couch, but instead of leaving and running to find some form of help, she stepped closer

One of them was about half the size of the other, being barely larger than greater dog minus the armor. They had a bright, red scarf wrapped around their neck. The the bigger one had on a blue, fluffy puffer jacket that looked fresh from the dump and was slightly bigger than Tuffet. If that wasn’t bad enough, her mary janes made a tapping sound on the hardwood floor, and she froze as she looked into bright, startled, blue eyes

The silence between them was deafening. 

Tuffet gulped “uh…. this is my house” She said, trying to sound unafraid. The blue eyes bone dog looked to furrow his brow- as if skeptical “i-it is!” Tuffet stood herself up straight “It was given to me!” She proclaimed, and with that shout, the smaller one awoke. He had orange eyes. THey were kinder than the bigger ones’ eyes, but seemed to be just as suspicious” 

“.... Well, if you can understand me… you can answer me…..” She regained her composure, and stared at the blue one. He seemed to be the one in charge, and the orange one pushed himself further into that one “Did you break into my house?”

Blue shook his head 

“... So I /did/ leave the door open!” Tuffet lightly hit herself in the head with her upper left hand “... well…. as long as you’re gone by morning, you can stay” She sighed, taking a large, red bow out of her hair with her upper right, using that hand on her head to rub it, and her other sets on her hips “I’m super tired and stuff so uh, i’m going to bed” She waved with a free hand. “Night” 

She walked around the couch, but turned sharply when she heard a frightening, crunching sound, followed by a “whoosh” similar to magic use. When she did turn around, she was being approached by a small… skeleton?? They were only a little taller than her waist, but beamed at her. one hand was clutching a red scarf. Tuffet blinked - quickly putting two and two together

“Thank!!” The child grinned at her, but before she could even say anything, he was pulled back, and Tuffet looked up, making eye contact with two bright, glowing eyes. She felt heavy. 

“What’s the catch” The taller skeleton asked. He was a bit more heavy set than the younger, and was about 4 sold inches shorter than Tuffet (She thought him to be about 10), but the air about him was dead, and cold against his dimly glowing eyes. Tuffet swore she saw her breath as she exhaled. She felt heavy.

“What catch?” She asked, still kind of floored that, yes, these two, were apparently flipping shapeshifters?! Wow. 

“Why are you just letting us sleep in your house? You don’t know us” He argued. Tuffet wasn’t really sure why. I mean, if they need a place to sleep in waterfall, where it rains on and off constantly, might as well be her couch. 

“There’s an invisible wall on my door with magic” Tuffet explained “People with bad intentions can’t get through. it’s to protect me” Tuffet didn’t want to try to tell this very skeptical skeleton that she was kind of friends with the king of monsters. “If you came here to do something bad, you wouldn’t have been able to come in.”

The blue skeleton looked a little alarmed, and they started staring at each other again. They were broken away when the small skeleton sneezed

“ah, Papyrus, you okay?” The taller Skeleton immediately turned his attention to who Tuffet was assuming was his little brother, and held his face. 

“I feel sniffly” The smaller skeleton answered, sniffing again. 

“I have some cold medicine” Tuffet chimed in, not even waiting for Sans’ third look of skepticism before she went into her kitchen, grabbing a stool to go into her sparse medicine cabinet to grab the medicine “uhm… would you guys like some tea?” 

“I thought you were tired” The older skeleton said with a slight bite to his voice

“Thats not an answer” Tuffet responded. Her voice a little lower- she could bite too.

“.... no, thanks”

“Thanks!” Papyrus mirrored his brother before sneezing again, and letting out a whine. Tuffet chuckled as she came back in 

“Here. It’s the chewy kind. He only has to take one” She instructed. The taller skeleton took it, and opened the bottle before… sniffing it? and then handing one of the chewable medicine pills to Papyrus, who chewed and swallowed almost methodically. Now it was Tuffet’s turn to be skeptical for a few moments before she rubbed her head again. This time with her middle right arm. She held out her lowest right arm to him

“I’m Tuffet” She introduced, adjusting her glasses again with one of her arms. The taller stared at her hand, before taking it

“Sans” he responded

Tuffet yawned “Kay, Sans. Now you know me. So, uh, i’m gonna go to bed…. you guys can stay as long as you like or whatever.” Tuffet turned around “I gotta get some sleep. I got work tomorrow”

“You work? You’re like, my age” Sans looked skeptical /again/. Tuffet managed to roll all five of her eyes 

“whatever. night” She waved him off with two of her right arms before closing the door to her room with the lower left.

Sans stood there, watching the door as Papyrus sneezed again and went back to the couch “she’s nice” Pap said, before the whoosh and crunch came and went and the gruff sound of a whine came from the couch 

“Yeah… I guess” Sans finally replied, turned back and joining Papyrus on the couch. Sans didn’t sleep right away like Pap did though. He was reliving what just happened in his head. What the heck was that? 

Had he…. made a friend?


	2. Don't Look a Gift Spider in the Fangs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morning after, oatmeal and quiet thoughts

Sans woke up to the smell of cinnamon and…. He didn't recognize the other smell. He changed forms as he sat up, cracking his neck bones almost obscenely. When he heard his little brothers giggle, he turned to where he’d last seen him and found him nowhere on the couch. Panic surged through him briefly, before he heard him giggle again. He sharply turned his head.

Sitting on a small dining table was... Papyrus? Who was carefully eating some food that Sans had never seen before. Directly across from him was the spider girl, who was eating the same food, but hers had a sprinkle of cinnamon in it. He could tell by the red on top of the beige… Liquid? Honestly it didn't matter. He found himself staring at the supposed owner of this house.

She wore thick, wire rimmed glasses that reflected light so badly no one would blame you if you thought she didn't have eyes. She did however, and all five of them were a dark burgundy, trained on little Papyrus. Her fangs peeked out of their smile, and her hair, a dark mahogany, was loose, curling every which way. It took Sans a moment to realize they were conversing.

“And then I come home. That's my average day” Tuffet finished up. “Working as a mail person is fun”

“Can I come?” Papyrus asked, his eagerness always made Sans cringe- in an endearing way, of course. 

“Uh, I guess so. But shouldn't you ask your brother first?” She responded. Her voice was a bit breathy? And had a bit of a nasal twinge, but it wasn't unpleasant to hear. She suddenly looked at him. And grinned a toothy grin “look who's awake” 

“... Is it morning?” Sans asked. He watched Tuffet huff 

“Yes. Would you like some food? It's oatmeal” 

“It tastes amazing, Sans!” Papyrus nodded as he finished up his bowl and pushed it away. He just nodded as Tuffet asked if Papyrus wanted seconds, and the smaller skelly beamed and nodded in awe. Tuffet walked back into the kitchen as Sans walked over to Papyrus 

“How are you feeling, Pap?” He asked, gently rubbing his little brother’s head.

“I feel good” Papyrus nodded “sniffling gone”

“That's great bro. After we eat we’ll leave”

“Leave?” Papyrus frowned “She’s nice!”

“That doesn't matter, bro. We gotta go” Sans said firmly

“She said she’d fix my scarf!” The child pulled at his scarf, showing off a gaping hole. “Please??” 

Sans sighed. Little brothers were so hard to reason with.

Tuffet entered not too soon after, with two bowls of “oatmeal” or whatever she called it. 

“Here. I gotta get ready for work” She said, and didn't even register Sans' look as she left the room. 

Sans stared at the “oatmeal” and looked at Papyrus, who was already shoving the spoon in his mouth. Sans lifted the spoon, and ate.

…. It was pretty bland. Not bad! Just bland. He eyed the shaker of cinnamon sugar and grabbed it. He'd only ever had cinnamon buns once, so he had no idea what raw cinnamon tasted like, but the poor guy needed flavor, so he sprinkled an unhealthy amount in the oatmeal before taking another bite.

Wow, much better. The two ate in silence, Sans in deep though, Papyrus making a bit of a mess. 

“Wow, you're hungry” Tuffet voices, drawing their attention. She was dressed very warmly, in a button down coat with a green scarf and hat covering most of her head. The jacket only had two arms, and Sans could see that she was hugging shelf with her two remaining sets under the coat. 

“Feeling lonely?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in a bemused manner. Tuffet stared 

“You try saving money to alter a coat” she argued “I have to make some mail deliveries for Mister Gerson - he's a shopkeeper. Would you like to come with me?” She offered

Before Papyrus could jump at it, Sans replied “Nah, we gotta get going” 

“Your brother said you have nowhere to go”

Sans paused. He was going to glare at Papyrus, but that would do him no good. So he glared at Tuffet instead, who looked slightly offended. 

“We don't need your pity”

“What pity??” She raised her available hands. “I'm offering you a place on my couch and to come with me so you're not bored all day” 

“Why?” He asked “What do you expect in return?” He asked, almost spitting out his words. Tuffet huffed

“... Maybe I just wanted a little company” she replied, quietly. “Listen” He noticed a slight lisp “I don't care what you do… But you're welcome here. Put your dishes in the sink” She turned around “Today is a short day. I'll be back in a few hours” She replied as she abruptly left

“Saaaans!” Papyrus exclaimed as Tuffet closed the door “you made her all upset!”

“I knowww” Sans groaned, his face making a thunk as it hit the table “But we can’t stay, Pap. He’ll find us here”

“Why would he look for us here?” Papyrus asked, tilting his head “I think its great here! Its small, its hidden, and there’s a nice spider who feeds us oatmeal!!” He proclaimed. 

Sans thought it over. 

It had taken him hours to find this house, and that was its first good point. The second was that “wall” Tuffet talked about last night. If she wasn’t lying about that - and he had no real reason to believe she had in fact lied about that- that was probably their strongest line of defense against him. Their best bet. The fact that her house was dry and stocked with food also helped. He looked back at Papyrus, who had changed suddenly and was rolling around on the table. Sans grabbed him and put him of the ground. 

“Alright, bro. We’ll ask the spider if she’ll let us stay” Sans concluded. Papyrus nearly jumped out of his onesie. 

“Make sure to say sorry!” Papyrus said before going over to the couch, seeing that she had a small television “Ooh, ooh, a TV! Can we watch?”

“Sure, bro” Sans got up, yawning as he went back over, turning on the TV before sitting himself on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far so good! I already have an idea where this is going, including the ending. Just gotta fill in the cracks woo


	3. Chilled Out, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trust starts to build, and off they are to Snowdin

They had been there two weeks. 

In that time, Sans was finally feeling a little at ease, as they started to fall into a rhythm.

4 days a week, they got up, ate breakfast with Tuffet, saw her off, and watched TV. Sometimes she would be home for lunch, and sometimes they’d wait for her to come for dinner. Then they’d sleep on the couch, despite offers of a bed.

On Tuffet’s days off, she’d spend most of her time with them, trying to get to know them better when she wasn’t being assisted by Papyrus in her simple chores. Sans started just trying to ignore her for the most part, before her pestering got him into a spat. 

_“Just stop it!!” He glowered at her “I don’t want to talk to you” He looked away, huffing. Tuffet gasped a bit_

_“ Hey, I’m just trying to be nice!” She argued, keeping her voice low just as he was. Papyrus was sleeping, after all “I mean, you’re staying in my house, maybe I should know you a little bit?”_

_“.... You don’t have to be” Sans grumbled “I don’t even get it… why are you letting us stay here? Why are you being so nice??” He nearly rose his voice, but stopped when Papyrus shifted in his lap._

_“I… “ Tuffet closed her eyes, using her upper left hand to pinch the bridge of her nose between her glasses “Why do people question me for being nice??”_

_“...What?”_

_“I mean, seriously? Is there something wrong with being nice??” Tuffet huffed a bit, clenching two of her fists and grabbing her dress tightly with the rest of her hands. “I just don’t get why people question kindness. Whenever I’m nice people ask me why and I don’t get it. Is being nice not what you’re supposed to do? People sometimes ask why people are being mean, and, I get that, but…. but why do they ask when someone is being nice? Or they look offended by the kindness?… most of the time its both” She closed her eyes “Maybe if people stopped questioning kindness, there’d be more of it”_

_Sans just stared at her. Tuffet wouldn’t look his way. The silence between them started feeling dry and heavy despite the condensation on the windows that betrayed humidity. He gently moved his brother off his lap, and thought carefully about his choice of words as he scooted towards her._

_“.... My brother and I…. We’re from…. not a nice place” he kept his wording purposefully vague “People…. they used kindness against us. They pretended to be nice because… they wanted to use us. I learned the hard way that people aren’t always kind….” He looked at his brother “Papyrus still thinks that people can be good. He trusted you faster than he’s trusted anyone, even back… where we’re from.” He looked back, seeing that Tuffet had turned her attention back to him “.... Uh… So… I’m sorry” He sighed deeply_

_He found himself enveloped in a six-armed hug._

_“I know that people aren’t always kind….” Tuffet muttered to him, feeling him tense in her arms “But please…. just… have a little faith in me, please?” She began to pull away, but Sans fought whatever made him stiff and hugged her. It wasn’t tight, but it was just enough. Enough to tell Tuffet- without words, that he’d at least try_

_She smiled into his collar bone_

But that was then. 

Now, he felt stupid, wearing a hat. 

He couldn’t believe she’d convinced him to wear a hat. He was a skeleton! The cold didn’t affect him! Or Papyrus, for that matter. But there they were, all bundled up because he finally accepted her invitation. Off they were to Snowdin. He fixed his brothers hat before turning around, seeing at Tuffet had, in her off days, “fixed” her jacket herself, sewing on the needed sleeves for her arms. It wasn’t the best he’d ever seen, but it was probably the best she could do. Sans made a mental note that perhaps he could do something akin to finding a proper tailor as thanks. 

“All set?” She asked

“I don’t need to wear this hat” Sans pointed out

“Oh shush, it looks cute!” She announced, fixing her scarf. Sans prayed that his cheeks weren’t blue 

“I think you look nice, Sans!” Papyrus announced, flailing his arms up and down in excitement. 

“You’re not helping, bro… but thanks” He tried to shrug it off 

“Come on, guys, The River Person is just up this way” She opened the door, and the three of them left the house, Tuffet making sure to lock the door before they left. 

The ride was quick, and Sans watched as they left the humidity of waterfall and entered the brisk cool of Snowdin. This was where they were originally going- where Sans originally intended to hide out. But that was history now. Recent, but still history. He watched papyrus, who was tapping the side of the boat repeatedly in all his excitement. it was loud, and the River Person kept looking back, but Sans saw that Tuffet barely registered it. She looked back and Papyrus, and Sans was about ready to defend what he was doing, before she spoke 

“Excited?” She asked, her fanged grin as genuine as it always was. Papyrus simply nodded. “You sure are stimming a lot. You must be super excited” Papyrus grinned back and nodded more. 

“Stimming?” Sans asked 

“Yeah. That’s what he’s doing. My mother used to do it” Tuffet recalled “She had a thing called ‘autism’. Does Papyrus have it?” 

“I.. don’t know” Sans would have been biting his lip, if he had skin. “Our…. guardian always said that there was something… wrong with him” 

“There’s nothing wrong with him” Tuffet argued

“That’s what I said!” Sans agreed, nodding. The boat had stopped, and the three of them exited onto the snowy dock “See you again, River Person” Tuffet thanked, and handed them a gold coin. Sans could feel the smile under the hood as the River Person floated away. 

“Just follow me guys. After I deliver the letters we can have lunch at Grillbys! I know you’ll like it” She announced, walking briskly “Just be careful, it can get slippery. I always fall when I’m here, hehe” 

Sans believed that. 

Papyrus stayed up ahead with Tuffet, who was talking pleasantly with him as she adjusted her bag and started taking out letters with two of her hands. One hand was holding Papyrus’ and the three free ones were swinging lazily at her side. Sans was a few feet behind as they entered the snowy, kind - looking town. The warmth radiating from this place got to him quickly. It was so pleasant. So nice. But so cold. Cold didn’t really affect him, but he could feel it, definitely. Tuffet looked back to make sure he was following, and he noticed the maroon twinge to her cheeks and nose. She must be cold, despite her deliberate layers. 

As they entered, Tuffet immediately walked into the inn, where she started her route. She only had a few letters that day, all big and official looking. Royal letters, he knew. Gaster sometimes had them in his hands when he talked to them. He shook away the memory

They were safe. He couldn’t hurt them anymore… right? 

He shook it off again and followed Tuffet, until finally, they stood in front of some restaurant called “Grillbys” Tuffet turned around and grinned at them “This is my favorite place in the whole town. The guy that runs the place is so nice.” She assured them and turned around. Sans couldn’t warn her fast enough that she’d stepped on ice, and watched her rather melodramatic fall

It would have been hilarious, had he not heard a disturbing cracking noise. It reminded him of a cracked skull. He glanced at Papyrus, who had on a similar expression. The two of them were frozen until they heard a whining groan 

“Ow…..” Tuffet sat up, rubbing her face gently “Ah, I cracked my face…” Sans side stepped to be right in front of her and kneeled down, looking her her face. 

A nasty looking crack had formed right on her skin, starting on the apple of her cheek and reaching towards her mouth. ThHe look on his face told Tuffet enough. 

“Whoa, don’t worry” She announced, raising her hands “I crack my exoskeleton all the time” She turned her head slightly, seeing that Papyrus had come by as well “The cold makes it really easy to crack. I just need to get inside and get some tea. I’ll be fine” She assured them, slowly getting up. Sans got up faster, and held her arm for support

“Heh, how about you say something about that sooner?” he suggested, feeling relieved that the crack wasn’t some form of lasting damage. Papyrus was on her other side

“Ya sure you’re okay?” Papyrus asked, concern in his features

Tuffet nodded to him “I’m fine, Papy” SHe assured the both of them with another fangy grin. 

They went inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man these little nerds! Love them to pieces. 
> 
> And yes, I know there hasn't been much angst yet. patience, grasshopper


	4. Chilled Out Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun times at Grilbys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little longer than the others, and I might rewrite it but I'm glad you guys are liking it so far! Thank you so much for all of the kudos! (PS ya'll can follow me on Tumblr @ DoodleImprovement )

Warmth was all that Sans felt when they went inside. It was beyond just the temperature. The warm colors, the quiet voices, the relaxing music coming from the jukebox, it was just… warm

Sans’ hand had somehow gotten into one of Tuffet's, and Papyrus’ was already holding as she led the two to a booth. 

They all crammed into one side, for some reason. Tuffet didn’t seem to mind. She waved over to the bar, and San’s eyes followed, seeing the man she was waving to. 

A fire-man, dressed rather dapper, with a pair of glasses, for some reason. Sans was fascinated by the gentle flicker of his flames. Papyrus was gazing in wonder as the fire-man approached them. 

“I see you’ve hurt yourself again” The soft, flickering baritone spoke, though Sans didn’t hear disappointment, but rather a sort of fondness

“Heh, just happened, too.” Tuffet admit “These are my friends, Sans” She pointed to them each “and Papyrus! Can I have some tea, and a soup? What do you guys want?” 

Papyrus popped up “uh….. something with food?” Tuffet giggled 

“How about you get some soup too? Keep it simple” Tuff suggested. Papyrus nodded “You, Sans?” 

“Uh…. I guess… I’ll get soup too” Sans responded, awkwardly, looking up at the man

“Well, I’ll get that into the kitchen now. It is nice to meet you, boys. You can call me Grillby” He seemed to be… smiling? His tone was pleasant at least. He left the booth and Tuffet chuckled 

“He’s pretty cool” Tuffet grinned, and gently rubbed the crack on her face. Sans was about to crack his first real pun - before noticing her wince.

“H-hey! Don’t touch it” Sans jumped a bit

“San’s its fine, really” She tried to assure him, but he wasn’t really buying it. Papyrus looked at the crack 

“Why did your face crack like that?” 

“Well. it’s my exoskeleton” Tuffet explained “I’m a spider. I don’t have ‘bones’. My bones are… my skin? It’s hard to explain to people that aren’t spiders” She shrugged. Papyrus took that answer for what it was worth as Grillby came back- and with their order no less 

“That was fast” Sans commented

“When I know she is coming to town I always make the tea and soup she likes” Grillby answered the question that wasn’t asked. Sans could believe it. The soups were placed in front of the children, and the hot tea was handed to Tuffet directly, who immediately started drinking it in little sips. 

“If I don’t drink it right when he gives it to me he gets really stuffy. He’s like a mom” Tuffet giggled a bit, sipping on more of the tea. All Grillby did in response was… raise an eyebrow? It was hard to tell. 

Sans watched as the crack on her face started to fade and fill in as she drank the tea. He was surprised. “That tea…” He furrowed his brow. 

“Its the kings golden flower tea” Grillby answered. “Best natural healer you can’t buy” 

Sans took the answer as is as Tuffet grinned “See, Sans? I’m good” She turned to Papyrus “See?” 

“Wow!!” Papyrus put his hand on her face and felt where the crack had been. “Totally healed!! “

“Yup! Now, lets eat!” Tuffet put the teacup down and clapped 

“I’ll be back to collect your bowls when you’re finished. Are you done with your route today, Tuffet?” Grillby asked, taking the empty teacup. Tuffet nodded “Then stay as long as you like” He finished before leaving. 

“..... He’s pretty chill, for a guy made of fire” Sans commented 

“Yeah, he’s not very… hot headed” Tuffet giggled a bit, finally joining Papyrus in eating. 

Sans stared at Tuffet. Did she…? She DID. Oh. 

Oh, HECK YEAH.

Sans’ grin got even larger, if it could. 

He’d pun back later, however. That soup was just calling his name. 

The three ate in silence, and when they were done, Papyrus leaned back into the booth and relaxed, and Tuffet chuckled, pushing the bowl away. 

“Like it, Papy?” She asked, and watched him nod lazily She giggled, and looked over to Sans “You?” 

Sans nodded “its good, yeah” He agreed with his little brother, and burped loudly. Tuffet jumped. Sans laughed

“Hey, say excuse me!” Tuffet huffed. 

Sans looked at her weirdly “Why?” 

“Because burping is rude at the table” 

“So I can burp /away/ from the table?” He asked

Tuffet then went silent “Uh……” 

This banter went on for over a half an hour. 

In that time, Grillby grabbed their food, and eyed Papyrus for a moment before leaving. Tuffet noticed the stare, but thought nothing of it, continuing her arguement about burping at the table with Sans

“Sans, it’s rude because it smells bad and interrupts!” She finally managed a reason. Sans rolled his eye lights

“Nah, its not!” Sans continued to argue, with his voice still carefree-sounding. The grin on his face was so genuinely shit-eating Grillby nearly wanted to go up to him and wipe it off his face. 

Grillby came up to the table “How are you kids doing?” He asked, putting down three cups 

“He won’t say that burping is gross” Tuffet said factually. Sans just chuckled. 

“Here is some hot chocolate for you kids. You’ll be here a while yet” He said. San’s grin fell. 

“... What?” Sans asked, his expression making Grillby suspect something 

“Its storming outside” He looked “I’d rather you children not go outside” 

Tuffet jumped “Oh dear!” She frowned. “But we have to get home for dinner!” 

“Not in that storm you’re not. All of you might get hurt” Grillby asserted “These usually don’t last that long. Just stay here, I’ll get out those old books, maybe some paper and crayons. Keep you kids busy” He stood straight up “Alright?” 

Sans looked at Tuffet, who looked back at him, They both looked at Papyrus, and the two of them gasped!

He was in his “Blaster” form *at least that’s what Sans called it*, curled up and sleeping. Sans looked at Grillby, who…. didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. Grillby and him made…. eye contact?

“Are you and your brother shape shifters?” He asked, Sans clenched his fists tightly. He kept the “eye contact” and tried to form an answer.

That was what they were… right?

It took him a while before he squeaked out a yes, and Grillby simply nodded and left the table. Sans looked down at his hands and stared for a few moments, before a mug was put in his field of vision 

“Its hot chocolate” Tuffet spoke, keeping her voice shushed “Are you okay?” He took the mug from her, and finally looked at her concerned burgundy eyes. 

“Yeah.. Yeah i’m cool” He assured “I’m sorry about that” He looked into his cup

“You have nothing to be sorry for” she assured him, and pat his arm before getting into her hot chocolate. 

Things calmed right back down. 

Almost 6 hours later, the storm hadn’t settled at all. Their little booth was littered in crayon drawings and books that Tuffet read aloud to Papyrus when the little bone-dog was awake. He'd just fallen back to sleep. Why was he so tired? Tuffet whined when she looked out the window.

“We’ll never get home like this” She whined, head hitting the book she was reading with her face. 

“Looks like it” Sans huffed, looking over to Papyrus, who was still asleep, surprisingly. 

“I can ask mister Grillby if we can stay in the back. He has a sofa and a cot back there” Tuffet managed to shimmy out of her seat, about to head to the bar.

“No need, children” The bartender voiced “The bar has just closed, and I am headed home” He said as he grabbed his coat “It is still too dangerous for you three to attempt to return home. You three can stay over with me tonight” 

“How will we get there?” Sans asked, his defensive stance becoming evident suddenly 

“I have a basement hall that leads to my home for nights like this. I am a fire elemental. Water could hurt me” Grillby explained. Tuffet was stretching  
“Thank you very much, mister Grillby” Tuffet said, reaching over Sans and picking up Papyrus, using 4 of her arms to carry him carefully. “Come on, Sans” 

Sans stayed in his seat, looking at Tuffet intently. Tuff sighed, offering a free hand 

“I trust him. Sans. Come on” She urged. The fire elemental waited by the door to the basement. Sans would have bit his lip if he had them, and got out of the booth. grabbing Tuffets hand

The walk there was quick, no more than 10 minutes, but Sans felt like it would last forever. After about five minutes, Sans let go of Tuffets hand, and she heard a still alien, but at least recognizable swoosh and crunch, before she felt her leg get bumped into. She sighed “Really, Sans?” She got a growl in response, and rolled her eyes. Grillby looked back at them, and made “eye” contact with Sans again. This time, there was no apprehensiveness in Sans. It was simply a look that conveyed “what are you looking at????”. Grillby simply chuckled. 

They went up some stairs, and Grillby unlocked the door, allowing them to enter his home first. 

Well, it felt… like a home?

There were more warm colors, just like in his bar/restaurant. the living room was a warm red, with orange and brown furniture. What stood out was a gigantic, overstuffed looking orange couch that made Tuffets couch look like a couch for mice. 

Sans immediately climbed onto it, and lied down like he usually did on Tuffet’s couch, only with more room than on hers. Tuffet giggled. 

“Will you at least let me pull out the bed from that sofa?” Grillby asked, but was greeted with a chuffing sound that vaguely resembled “haha”. 

Grillbys unamused look nearly had Tuffet in stitches, and woke Papyrus up. “hehe hehe, hey Papy. We’re at Grillby’s. We’re staying the night” She explained, and the still tired bone-dog let out a groaning noise. 

“I will grab blankets and pillows” Grillby said “Try to get him off the couch so I can pull out the bed” He left to go upstairs, and Tuffet chuckled. 

“That was a great face he made” Tuffet commented, sitting up on the bed with Papyrus still in her arms. She was going to put him down, but he just looked so darn comfortable that she dare not try to change it. “Man, I feel tired…” She murmured, and Sans huffed. She knew exactly what he meant “Well I need a job, Sans. AndIi have to get up early” she argued, and he just snorted. Tuffet grumbled and lied on her side, using San’s puffy jacket arm as a pillow. Sans froze, his other arm up and out of the way 

“Overall, I think today was a good day…” She managed, her entire being relaxing, and a half awake Papyrus adjusting himself to be lying on the couch, leaning against Tuffet. “Did you have fun?” She asked, looking up to his muzzle. He gruffed after a moment of silence, and Tuffet just giggled, letting out a content sigh

The three of them were out cold by the time Grillby returned.

The fire elemental let out a sigh, and gently draped the large blanket over them, making sure to cover San’s noticeably larger form. He studied the three monster children for a time, watching as San’s arm, which had been tucked into him, untucked and gently laid itself over his little brother and Tuffet. It was a nice scene. They were nice kids. 

He lit the fire in his fireplace, and went upstairs to bed.


	5. Crawling Static

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuffet has a bad dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is light on Angst, but it only gets worse haha

There was a lot of black

Tuffet had a lot of dreams where she wandered around in the void. They were usually lucid, and she’d jump around and manipulate the world around her like it was nobodies business. She liked those dreams

But… this… this was different 

This void was not completely black. It was mostly black, but parts of the black were visual static, dripping, dragging, and moving around. 

Was this a dream? She wasn’t sure. It felt like her dreams, but the static was certainly new. She tried to conjure up a flashlight and failed. she wrung her many hands together and walked. 

When in doubtkeep moving. That was the old spider motto, she recalled

The static was getting “louder”, for some reason, and taking up more of the black, she looked down and saw the static had stretched itself under her feet. Startled, she jumped and backed up, but it followed her, spreading even more. She contemplated her fear for a few moments, before sighing. The static wasn’t hurting her. She was fine, right? Yeah,yeah she was fine. She felt a familiar pang of discomfort and gripped the front of her shirt, and felt.. something… there

She pulled her hand away, and lying in it, floating slightly, was… her soul. 

The little white heart floated idly, and she stared at it in bewilderment. That had never happened before! She’d never seen her own SOUL, and, dream or not, it was pretty cool. She bounced it in her upper right hand, and giggled. It tickled a little. she bounced it between her hands for a few moments, before it froze mid- toss. 

“huh?” 

She heard a sudden PING sound, and watched as her heart turned a dark red-purple. Her brow furrowed

**((WHERE ARE YOU LIVING))**

She shivered, suddenly. What… was that?

**(( YOU CANNOT KEEP THEM ))**

It was deep, booming, threatening

**(( SPIDERS ARE MEANT TO BE ALONE ))**

She gripped herself, the static had overtaken the black, the booming speech was joined by audio static. She shivered, she wanted to wake up

**(( STUPID GIRL ))**

“s-stop!!” She whimpered, the static was causing her to feel numb, empty

**(( I WILL FIND YOU. I WILL TAKE BACK WHAT IS MINE ))**

“I don’t understand!!” She shouted, covering her ears with two of her hands. 

**(( WHEN I COME FOR THEM, I WILL DISPOSE OF YOU ))**

“No!!!!” SHe screamed, curling in on herself, the static was crawling up her legs, working its auditory nightmare between her fingers and into her ears

**(( WORTHLESS ))**

She awoke in her bed with a loud gasping noise, her hands gripping her shirt, her bed, her pillow, really anything she panted, hyperventilating in the silence of her room

She sat up, feeling her entire body shake. just… what /was/ that? She’d never had a dream like that before. It made her never want to sleep again. 

She got out of bed, whimpering slightly, and still holding herself as she walked into the kitchen, nothing but the padding of her feet on the floor accompanying her. She got the kettle off the stove, and filled it with water before putting it to boil over a flame. She sat at the table with two of her hands in her hair. She’d done the whole thing while shaking, breathing heavily, and trying to resist the need to whine and whimper. She felt so small, so scared still. She hoped he hadn’t woken either of the boys up. 

A tug at her pajamas told her the answer. She turned her head, and little Papyrus was looking ather in concern 

“Are you okay?” He asked, his voice quiet. Sans must have still been asleep. Tuffet took a deep breath, though it didn’t help much

“i-i’m okay, Papyrus…. just… just a bad dream…” She assured him putting one of her hands on his head. He didn’t look convinced. 

“Sans has bad dreams too” Papyrus said, as if that statement would bring about some sort of intense comfort. Tuffet was still trying to breathe deeply, having a bit of trouble, but managing. 

“Everyone has bad dreams, Papyrus” Tuffet responded. Papyrus furrowed his little brow at her and grabbed two of her hands. He started over exaggerating his breathing, taking in these long deep breaths, and breathing out even longer. Tuffet understood what he was doing, and humored him, following his pattern of breathing. it… worked. She felt her shaking diminish, and her heart calm. It was peaceful. It was nice. 

“Better?” The small skeleton asked, and Tuffet smiled at him

“yes, thank you. hug?” she asked. She knew he didn’t like hugs unless he was in the mood, but he happily complied, and they embraced as the kettle started to make noise. Tuffet got up and out of the hug and quickly turned the flame off so that the sound wouldn’t get loud enough to wake Sans. She was still being hugged by a stubborn Papyrus, who giggled as she moved. She giggled too, and asked if he wanted some tea

the two drank on the floor in silence, the chamomile - like brew making them sleepy again. Tuffet escorted Papyrus back to bed, and watched as he transformed and went right back under San’s arm. 

“Hey, papyrus?” She whispered. Papyrus opened an eye “Why is Sans so much bigger than you?” 

“... He told me… it was cause the man in the white coat game in a magic potion or something….” he recalled, half awake 

Tuffet didn’t understand, but figured that she didn’t really need to. Sans would tell her one day. She pat Papyrus’ head, wished him sweet dreams, and went back into her own bed She didn’t go back to sleep, but at least she felt relaxed

It was a good thing she had off tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can follow me on tumblr for updates and doodles and junk at Doodleimprovement


	6. Begone, Loudness!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has a nightmare. Tuffet notices something, Sans just want to protect the baby bones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its not as angsty as I wanted it to be but i'll save all that for the next chapter huehue

Sans had started waking Tuffet up with puns

She wondered if Hell was empty

But no, it was just Sans. Every morning like clockwork he’d be in her room, just after she hit the snooze button on her small alarm clock, and the puns would begin. 

“Come on, we’ve got a skele-ton of work to do today”

“Don’t make me sit on my Tuffet”

“You sleeping in isn’t very humerus” 

It just kept going, on and on every morning until she pulled herself out of bed

This morning, her alarm didn’t even get to go off

“Tuff?? Tuff!!” Sans voice was so scared sounding she almost jumped out of bed

“Huh? Huh? Sans?” She blinked herself awake

“Pap - I can’t find Pap!!” His eye sockets were almost black

“Wh-what do you… What do you mean you can’t find him??” Tuffet sat up abruptly.

“I-i woke up and I can’t find him!!” He dug his finger bones into his skull, almost clawing at it and hurting himself. Tuffet quickly grabbed his hands and forced them away from his head

“Sans, SANS!!” Tuffet took a breath, though there was obvious worry in all of her features “I lock the door from the inside with a key. He can’t have left!” 

Sans breathed in, taking in the words. Yeah, yeah she did do that. Every night before bed he would could on the couch and watch her lock the door. It was reassuring, mostly “He has to be here somewhere” He agreed, and she let go of him. She was still shaking visibly, but went into the living room

“”Papyrus?? Papyrus!!” Tuffet went into the kitchen. Sans quickly joined in. He had to be in the house, somewhere. 

The two worked together, looking throughout the kitchen, under the sink and in the lower cabinets mostly. They then checked in the living room, and when Tuffet finally looked under the sofa…

He was in his blaster form, curled up tightly with his paws on his face, tears streaking his bony cheeks. His sweater looked clawed at and ripped, his tail was still as the dead. He was shaking. Tuffet gasped 

“Sans!” Tuffet she waved him over, and when he looked under the bed she’d never seen him more relieved. 

Sans reached under and gently pulled Papyrus out, who jerked his eyes open and whined as his older brother held him close to his chest

“Have a nightmare, Pap?” Sans asked, his voice slow and calm. Tuffet knew better than to interfere. The little blaster transformed right in his brother’s arms, and he hugged him around the neck, choking a sob

“E-everything… was… so… loud….” Papyrus whimpered. Tuffet furrowed her brow. She knew what he meant, and looked around. Was there an intense smell? bright colors? No. She had nothing cooking, and her house was really rather dull in color save for a crayon drawing of the the three of them on the fridge courtesy of him, so what was loud?

“Whats loud, bro? Come on, its okay” Sans sat himself on the couch, and Tuffet continued to stand. 

“He kept screaming….” Papyrus whimpered “An-and it was all like snow on the TV, when the… when the signal goes out…”

Static

Tuffet went stiff. Was it….?

Tuffet wasted no time in getting onto the couch next to Sans. She placed one hand on Papyrus’ skull “Anything else, Papy?” She asked, trying to keep her voice from betraying her fear

“He said that we didn’t belong here… That… That we should go…. Back….” Papyrus, choked a bit, and Sans held him even closer, looking at Tuffet for the brief moment. She moved so that at least 3 of her arms were hugging the two of them best she could. The other arms were supporting her so that she wasn’t leaning on them. 

“Go back where?” She asked. Sans looked away from her. It was an innocent question, and he’d expected her to ask it eventually. But he wasn’t sure how to answer still. With honesty? Perhaps…

“Back to him” 

Papyrus’ answer had come like a swift kick 

“He says we… don’t belong… anywhere”

“Well that is absolute nonsense!” Tuffet huffed “You belong where you set yourself down! You belong here… You belong where you’re happy” Tuffet disregarded her weight and hugged the boys with all six of her arms, enveloping them “... Are you happy here?” 

“Tuffet….” Sans shut his eyes, leaning into her embrace “We’ve never been this happy”

“Ab-absolutely!” Papyrus agreed, his sniffling was down considerably. Tuffet smiled at this slightly, and relaxed her stance. She banished her anxieties for the time being, and rested well with the two of them hugged tightly. 

They were happy. 

She was happy. 

That was kinda neat. She never thought she’d live with anybody after her family kicked her out. Spider Tradition usually meant spending most of your frightening pubescent and early adult years alone

But then again, Tuffet wasn’t really one for Tradition

Sans, on the other hand, was leaning into Tuffet, feeling safe. She was only a little bigger than him, but the way she held him and his brother, she felt like a shield, a bulwark against the static. He prayed to whatever gods might exist that this would last. 

Papyrus was just happy to be awake, with people he loved so, so much. He hugged them the absolute best he could 

After all, The Great Papyrus knew that he was only as great as the company he kept.


	7. No Loss Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans' turn for the nightmare, i still can't write angst i'm sorry, but i hope you like it

Sans knew that he could not avoid having nightmares forever. He had been blessed with light nightmares, mostly unpleasant, but seeming just not as bad as the ones he’d had when they first escaped. 

But they came

Like clockwork, after a good day where Tuffet stayed home, and they read books together.She even read to Papyrus when she saw the trouble he was having. They all read “Peek a Boo with Fluffy Bunny” just before bed. Sans had a feeling they were going to be reading that one a lot- based on how Papyrus reacted. He went to sleep on the couch with Papyrus that night, feeling pretty darn good

and the Static started. 

**((YOU THINK YOU HAVE ESCAPED ME))**

Sans was standing. He usually wasn’t. He was usually on his knees, transformed, bowing his head in fear. But… this time he was standing. Thats a good thing. 

**((YOU CANNOT STAY WITH THE SPIDER))**

He could never speak in these, but he kept his eye sockets focused on the blanket static before him. 

**((RETURN))**

No.

**((FOR KING AND COUNTRY))**

He shut his eyes. No. He couldn’t do that. Not in his dreams. He had no pull in his dreams

**((FOR KING AND COUNTRY, SANS))**

Sans Opened his eyes again, they flared blue, the both of them. 

No.

**((YOU WILL NOT DISOBEY ME!!!))**

He was getting emotional. That had never happened before. Sans’ permanent grin formed a smirk.

**((I WILL HAVE MY PROPERTY BACK))**

The static began to melt, a white, cracked face, a disfigured body. Okay, wow, _he didn’t usually look like that_ , Sans started to back up. 

One of his hands raised, melting fingers grasping something, it came into focus as Sans stared longer.

Papyrus, being held by his skull - indents growing deeper as the monster dug his fingers in

In his other hand, being held up by her hair

Tuffet, still in her nightgown from that very night, her body looking like a china doll freshly cracked

“..You can’t do this” He could speak

**((BUT I WILL))**

“You can’t!!!!” He screamed, straining his eyes with the brightness

**((I WILL))**

_"SANS!!!"_

A call. He looked up. Tuffet’s crumbling form was reaching out to him. Her face looked almost shattered, her exoskeleton was so badly damaged she looked like just a simple breath of air would dust her. But her mouth was open, and her lisp was music to his ears 

_“Wake up!!!!! Sans!!”_ Her voice echoed in the void. 

Papyrus’ voice joined her. He was also covered in cracks and breaks to his bones. In punctures from needles and marks from a surgical knife 

_“Brother!! Brother please!! Wake up!!!”_

Their chorus of _“Wake up! Wake up!”_ Distorted the very fabric of the dream space. Things faded, blotched out, and the static began clearing to black. 

**((YOU HAVE NOT GOTTEN AWAY FROM ME))**

His eyes bursts open, and he thrashed about briefly when he felt weight on him, hearing a “Doof!” And a "Yelp!" simultaneously. He looked up, feeling himself on all fours as he gazed at his brother and Tuffet- dressed in their pajamas. They stared at him with a mix of shock and relief. 

“Sans!!!” Papyrus was the first to act, hugging his brother around the neck best he could manage. Sans quickly turned back to his bipedal form, breathing heavily and hugging his brother tightly to him. Tuffet crawled over carefully, keeping her distance before Sans got a hold of one of her arms, and pulled her into the hug. He hugged her so tight she thought he might make her crack. But from the shaking breaths, it was clear that whatever he had dreamed has not left his mind, so she stayed, wrapping her arms around the two best she could, similar to when Papyrus has his nightmare a little under a week ago. 

“Sans, you were thrashing around” Tuffet explained “Papyrus says use have these often? These… Waking nightmares?” 

“.... Not much these days” He muttered into her shoulder. 

“You transformed in your sleep” Papyrus voiced, looking up at him “Why?” 

“... Just…. Just a bad dream” He managed, his breathing evening out. Tuffet was quietly envious. 

“Thats all it was, Sans” She assured him, one hand rubbing his skull gently “Think you can go back to sleep tonight?” She asked

He shook his head. Tuffet understood, and hugged the boys a little tighter. She started humming some tune she’d heard one day when she was having tea with Asgore

Some song about the rain sending its love. 

\---

The next day, Sans had stayed awake through the night, staring blankly at Tuffet’s TV, which she had turned on for his sake as the others slept. Tuffet got up a little after some morning news show started, and she gave him another hug. He accepted it without so much as a grunt. 

“How do you feel?” She asked, seriously

“.... Okay” He answered honestly “ _Bone tired_ , though” 

“You can’t just let me comfort you, can you? You had to make a stupid pun.” She rolled her eyes to him, and Sans chuckled. 

“Come on, you’re smiling” He teased. Her smile just grew wider

“Guess I am” She said, before letting go and going off into the kitchen to microwave some stuff for breakfast. Today wasn’t a day for “effort-breakfast”

Sans wondered if she had work today. 

A little later, the three were all awake and dressed, and Tuffet made a call to her “boss” to tell him she wasn’t working today. Sans tried to argue that she didn’t have to do that, but she heard none of it, and put some popcorn in the microwave “We’re gonna watch movies and have a good time today” She affirmed, and the three of them gathered on the couch as Tuffet went to the movie channel, where they showed movies filmed in “Below Ground” (Where most of the population lives). 

They spend the entire day watching movies

Tuffet sat on his one side, and Papyrus was in Blaster form, sprawled across the two of them. He occasionally asked for Popcorn my thumping his tail. 

It was nice

It was home

He finally knew what home felt like

The boy would be damned if Doctor WD Gaster took this away from him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what song she's humming. Go ahead, guess!


	8. Seeing Eye Bone Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuffet and the boys take an emergency journey to Below Ground. I made sure that everything had an awful name. King Asgore would be proud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter so far at about 7 pages wowza

The cracking noise that Tuffet’s glasses made as they fell to the floor was met with stunned silence 

Tuffet let out an awful squeaking noise

“D-did they break?” She asked, Sans carefully picking up the glasses- since Tuffet didn't look like she was going to even breathe for the next few seconds, and examined her 5 lenses

Sans was always interested in her glasses. Not because they were stylish or anything, but god damn, her lenses were almost half an inch thick! When they fell to the ground, none of them shattered thank goodness, but the cracks were nothing to sneeze at. 

“They’re pretty badly cracked, Tuff” He answered. holding them out to her. When she didn’t reach out for them, he made a face. She really must have bad eyesight. 

“How bad is bad?” She finally asked.

“Like, I don’t know if they’re usable” he said, gently placing the glasses on her face. She was startled, but then looked through the cracks of her glasses. 

“Oh no…” She moaned. Papyrus finally poked his head from the kitchen where he’d been finishing breakfast

“Oh no what?” 

“I can’t use these! I can’t see a thing, there's like, 30 Sanses! I can barely handle one!” Tuffet raised all her hands in exasperation

“Wow, rude” Sans rebutted. 

“I’m sorry, Sans but I can’t see without my glasses. I’m not kidding” She took her glasses off “My eye doctor says i’m /legally blind!/” She announced

“You’re BLIND???” Papyrus screamed “Why didn’t you tell us??? No wonder you’re so clumsy”

Sans tried to hide a snicker. He failed. 

“I’m almost blind!!” Tuffet corrected, though still distraught “Guys, please, this isn’t funny. I can’t do my job if i don’t have my glasses. I need to go to Below Ground to my Eye doctor, Now” She huffed

Sans nodded, but then realized she probably didn’t see “Okay, okay. How do we get there?”

 

“We take the River person to the Big Elevator near Snowdin” She explained. “My eye doctor lives in the Water Square” She reached out a bit, not sure if she should walk, and Sans took her hand 

“We’ll get you there, Tuff. No problem” he assured her best he could. “We’ll guide you”

Papyrus let out a sudden squealing noise, and rushed over to a little trunk where Tuffet and company kept their boots and other things. He reached in, and pulled out a harness - Tuffet had gotten it as a gag gift to tease Sans just days before. “Idea!!” Papyrus flapped his arms excitedly

“Huh?” Tuffet tilted her head

“I think he wants to be your guide” Sans reasoned, and Tuffet didn’t even flinch when she heard the telltale crunch and swoosh of the magic. Papyrus pounced around, and trotted over to Sans, who compliantly attached the harness to Papyrus’ ribs, and put the lead into Tuffet’s hand. “Papyrus will lead the way, and I’ll keep you from tripping on your own two feet” Sans concluded, and Tuffet, wordlessly complied, Sans took her middle right hand in his, and watched as she managed to hold his arm bones with all of her arms. Sans started really realizing how scary it must be to not be able to see. He briefly remembered when he’d been totally blind for an experiment, but choked it down faster than it could resurface. 

They left the house then and there. Tuffet telling the River Person where they were going. Tuffet frowned when she remembered they had no gold, but The River Person simply waved it off. She’d pay them later

Papyrus was ever vigilant, walking at a constant pace on Tuffets behalf when they got off the boat, which was rather slow, being honest. Sans’ presence was reassuring, but her tendency to fall or trip made her shiver. Being close to Snowdin didn’t help. 

They got to the Big Elevator okay though, and waited patiently in the line. 

The Big Elevator was exactly what it was called - King Asgore still wasn’t good with names. It was about 4 or 5 times bigger than the average elevator, and was the only way to get to Below Ground unless you wanted to walk down stairs for 4 hours. 

They got no stares, with surprised Sans, but he wasn’t going to complain. if people weren’t paying attention to them, that worked out great. Papyrus seemed completely focused on his task of keeping Tuffet on track. 

Tuffet looked like a mess. He could feel her shaking something awful.

“Tuff?” he put his free hand over her one hand holding the lead. “Tuff we’re in the elevator. Holding up okay?” he asked, she turned her head in his direction. 

“I… I’m alright… I’m just…. I hate this” She muttered quietly as the elevator took them down 

Sans didnt’ want to talk about her issues with her - not now at least - and decided on a change of subject. “So uh, who’s this eye doctor?” He inquired

“Oh, uh, Doctor Malcom Kevgil” She answered “He’s a young doctor, he got his degree when I was like, 7. He’s really nice. A fish person” 

“Cool” Sans commented “Has he always done your glasses?” 

“No. I’ve needed glasses since i was really small” She pondered “When My sight didn’t improve by the time I was 3, my parent’s thought my soul was broken. it wasn’t” She recalled, the elevator dinged and the trio started moving

Below ground was a bigger, brighter city than the Capitol, which was understandable. The buildings were startlingly tall, and mostly dark colored. that is until you got to the business district. The building fronts were painted in bright, vibrant colors in stripes and polka dots and what he knew as stars. Sans was worried that Papyrus might be overstimulated, but when he looked at the little Bone monster, to his happy surprise, Papyrus was still hard focused on Tuffet’s directions

Tuffet had the route memorized, telling Sans and Papyrus where to turn and what door down the Office was in the Water Square. Sans wondered… and then it hit him 

“Tuff… have you done this before?” Sans asked

“... Yeah” She answered, letting go of him with one of her hands to reach out for the doctor’s door “Does it say Kevgil?” She asked

He looked up at a white door covered in rainbow fish, with the words “DR KEVGIL” written in golden paint on the door. 

“Yeah” He answered, and Tuffet pushed the door open with a little help from Papyrus. “Careful, there’s a step” He said just before she started walking, and he helped her step over it. 

They came into a waiting room, brightly colored to look like an aquarium. The nurse at the window was busy reading something. The sound of Papyrus changing back caught her attention, and she stared at the door. 

“Hello, Tuffet!” She said with a smile “What… Where are your glasses?” 

“They cracked.. is Mister Kevgil in?” 

“Of course I am, sweetums” A light tenor voice rung out, and the three turned in its direction

A tall fish man was standing in the doorway with a smile on his face. He was in his late 20s the latest, with a smoothed down mohawk and bright, inquisitive eyes. he wasn’t wearing any sort of doctors coat, instead opting for a rather obnoxious looking bright green apron. 

“Now, what’s this about cracked glasses?” he asked as he came in slowly. “Well, first off, who are your friends?” 

“Their names are Papyrus and Sans. They live with me at my house” Tuffet explained, fidgeting and and wringing all of her hands together. Why was she still so anxious? Sans and Papyrus started grabbing at her hands, holding two each so that only her upper arms were free. She was squeezing them 

“Nervous, dear?” Dr Kevgil got on one knee, making himself eye level with the small spider. 

“This is… its like third time i’ve broken my glasses since i started coming to see you! I can’t afford a new pair…” She muttered, taking the pair out of her dress pocket and showing him the extent of the damage. Papyrus was happy that Tuffet couldn’t see because the cringe on the good doctor’s face was not a good sign. 

“These are pretty busted…” He admitted, putting them on a side table near a chair “But you were due for an exam and new glasses anyway. We’ve got universal healthcare down here sweetheart. That means that if you get an eye exam your glasses are covered” he ensured her - condensing the healthcare mumbo jumbo into words that made the spider look the happiest she’d been all day. 

“Really??” She finally stopped clutching the boys at her side 

“Yup! You’re lucky i’m not busy today, Lets get right to your eye exam” He waved her back “i’ll be in room two. Come in when you’re ready” 

Tuffet looked at Sans, then Papyrus “Will you guys be okay for a few minutes while i take my eye exam?” She asked. 

“Yeah, Tuffet. its cool” Sans waved it off, and Papyrus nodded

“If it means you can see then its good enough for me” The smaller skeleton grinned. Tuffet smiled at that and giggled a bit before completely letting go of their hands 

“I’ll be back in no time” she announced before going into the hallway, almost hitting the wall before Dr Kevgil grabbed her write to lead her left

The two skeletons sat in the waiting room, Papyrus playing with an old looking train car he found in a toy box in the corner, while Sans spent most of his time staring at the hallway. 

She’d broken her glasses two other times…

Had she come here by herself those other times? How on earth did she manage it? Did her boss help her? She never said his name but he sounded like a swell guy from what she’d said about him

Sometime later, Tuffet is led out by the hand of the good doctor, who hands her off to Sans “Sit her down. Her glasses will be ready soon” He smiled, patting Sans’ head before going back into the hall. Tuffet looked rather content

“Chair, please?” she voiced when Sans didn’t do anything

“Oh! Right, sorry” He muttered and led her to a seat. 

Tuffet patiently kicked her feet, two hands rearranging her ponytail, 3 at rest, and one still holding Sans’ hand. He had a feeling it was mostly for reassurance 

“What is Papy doing?” She asked

“Playing with some toys in the corner. He’s barely moved from that spot” Sans chuckled. Tuffet chuckled too. 

“I’m sorry for all of this” Tuffet muttered “It’s scary trying to find my way when I can barely see colors” 

“Hey, hey its fine. You’ve helped us, we help you. Thats how this thing works, right? Thats what friends do?” 

Tuffet paused and then smiled a mile wide “Yeah”

a few more minutes passed before Dr Kevgil returned with a case “The glasses need time to cool and let the shatter-resistant magic set. I suggest letting your friends guide you home and wearing them tomorrow” He explained, gently playing them in her outstretched lower left hand. “I trust you boys can get her back easy?

Before Sans could even nod, he heard Papyrus transform, and leap before the doctor, who stumbled back before laughed “Ah! Even better!” He grinned “A seeing eye… shape shifting bone dog!” He grinned and pat Papyrus’ head. Sans was starting to get alarmed at how little people seemed to care that they could shape shift. I guess its because they didn’t know how? He shook it off, not really wanting to overthink as he took the lead and handed it to Tuffet, who took it in one of her many free hands. 

“Well then, be safe, kiddos! Have a full meal when you guys get home. Everything here is overpriced anyway” He joked, leaving the three in the living room. 

Not much was said on the way home. Papyrus focused hard on navigating the afternoon crowds and Sans’s grip on Tuffet’s hand was ironclad. There was so much bustle in the colorful city that every one of them tripped at least once, but they kept on going until they got the The Big Elevator. 

They got home and Sans sat Tuffet on the couch. She looked tired. Sans understood that, and grabbed the takeout menus and the “gold for the bad days” they always left on the counter. Not a lot of places delivered this far into Waterfall, but those that did were usually at least decent. Everyone decided that it was a heavy kind of day, and ordered from Grillbys’ of all places. Sans joined his brother in blaster form, and the two of them took up shop next to Tuffet, who had managed to get a hold of the remote and turned on the TV to the vision impaired channels, where they watched/listened to some old monster plays. 

About an hour or so later, there was a knock at the door and Papyrus went to the door to get it, transforming on the way there and opening the door

“Grillby?” 

“Hello, Papyrus. I have brought the food you three ordered. May I come in?” 

“Mister Grillby? Uh, come in” TUffet furrowed her brow. She felt sans transform beside her “But you usually send Mister Babbit to do all the deliveries?” 

“Mister Babbit is sick today. I closed early anyway, business was slow” The fire man explained, walking in. Sans tilted his head

“Sans, go get the gold” Tuffet told him, and Sans went to get up 

“Nonsense, Tuffet. Its on the house” Grillby said as he placed the food on her coffee table 

“Huh?” Tuffet and Sans both looked bewildered. Papyrus was excited as Grillby unpacked the bag, giving the small skeleton a to-go carton of spaghetti - which was quickly becoming his favorite food

“Sans told me about you three and your adventure into Below Ground today. You three need to save money anyway” He waved it off, giving Sans a burger wrapped in foil, and carefully holding out a container of soup towards Tuffet “Reach out, please” 

Tuffet reached, and Grillby made sure that she was holding it securely so it wouldn’t drop. “Its just the broth.” He assured, and Tuffet thanked him before she heard him sit on the floor 

“Stickin’ around?” Sans asked, skeptically. 

“I want to take back the silverware I brought”

“You didn’t have to do that! We have silverware!” TUffet argued, feeling bad that Grillby was being so darn nice. She just heard a crackling sound she recognized as laughter

“Its fine. I like spending time with you kids.” He admitted “You’re certainly an interesting group. and I figured you could use a little help” 

Tuffet looked at the broth… or past it it was hard to tell “Actually…” She muttered “Could you read Papyrus his story?” She asked “The font is too fancy for Sans to read and I can’t see…” 

Grillby nodded and voiced a sure before turning to a very messy Papyrus. 

The rest of the evening was a little strange for the household, with Grillby helping Sans with the rather herculean task of getting Tuffet to actually go to bed (she was flat out refusing, but Sans managed to bargain her with a promise he and Papyrus would help her with her deliveries tomorrow in Snowdin so she could catch up on work.). Grillby left around 9 o clock and Sans felt completely beat as he locked the door behind him with the key, and placed the key on its little hanger. Transforming, he got up on the sofa and started to fall asleep…

“Sans?” He opened an eye to see a half awake Papyrus “Tuffs gonna be okay, yeah?” 

“Tuffs fine bro. She got her glasses” He shrugged, moving his paw over his brother. 

“Good. She looked really scared. I didn’t like it” papyrus muttered, getting comfortable 

“Same here bro, but its all good” Sans whispered, feeling sleep take him

Papyrus didn’t say anything else

The night was peaceful.


	9. The Magnificent Papyrus! in 2D!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuffet brings back a present of sorts and things get a little dramatic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this to mostly be fluff because all the blaster fics i read were going dark places and i wanted cutes so

Tuffet rushed into the house with a fervor that Papyrus had never seen. The boy was on the floor, playing with some toys that Tuffet had found on a dump run with her friend, who she promised she’d introduce to the boys soon. 

“Welcome home Tuffie!” Papyrus greeted with a grin, and Tuffet responded in kind

“Where’s Sans?” She asked, putting her bag down, which looked bigger than usual

“Lazybones is napping where Lazybones always naps” he pointed to Sans, who was draped over the arm of the sofa almost dramatically, snoring away. 

Tuffet chuckled and went over to him, using all of her arms to push him over onto the sofa. The sensation of falling caused the skele to wake up and make an amusing “doof” sound. 

“Hey there” 

“... Hi tuff” Sans grumbled, sitting up “You’re home early” 

“Cause i don’t work today, dum dum. I had tea with my boss” She said, going over to her bad and taking out … another bag? “He gave me something! I can’t wait to show you guys!” 

“Huh?” Papyrus got up, coming to the coffee table where Tuffet put the smaller bag, and out of it came this bulky looking item with a lens on one side 

“... What is it?” Sans asked. 

“Its a video recorder!” She announced, lifting it up “You can record video like you see on TV!” 

“Wha, like TV shows?” Papyrus looked at the hunk of metal and plastic in awe. 

“Exactly!” Tuffet grinned “My boss wants me to make videos with it for him to see. He uh… He said that the old videos he made with it make him sad, so I wanna make really happy, funny things, like those comedy shows from Below Ground! “ she pressed, continuing “My boss is a very nice man… He’s just sad a lot, and I wanna make him happier!”

Sans nodded in approval at the honorable mission “Lets do it then”

“I wanna be the star!!” Papyrus enforced, and Tuffet grinned

“Well, who else, Papy?” Tuff grinned, and Sans’ grin got bigger. 

“Yeah bro, you’re better at acting than us” He shrugged

“Of course I am! Sans can be the cameraman” he pointed “And Tuffie, the director! “

“Brilliant, Papy!” Tuffet grinned, “But lunch first” 

The three sat down to leftovers from Grillby’s (they had quite a bit) before they got started on operation “Make Tuffie’s Boss Super Extra Happy” (as Papyrus had named it)

The next half hour consisted of making a script that jumped from sci fi to sitcom to drama to tellenovella (Papyrus spent the whole day watching a human spanish channel he’d somehow found using the antenna to the TV) and then back to sitcom before having a full house-esque cheese-tastic ending. Tuffet loved writing it down and Sans made sure that the sitcom bits were filled with awful, awful puns. 

The next two hours was spent doing what they called “rehearsing”, but was really just them rereading the script and laughing at their own jokes- beaming with pride at the dramatic reveal that Tuffet was really a temmie the whole time! Even Sans was getting into it, which just made Papyrus and Tuffet even more engaged

After all that prep, Tuffet showed Sans how to work the camera. It was an easy to use, if old model, where he had to look into a viewfinder and click the red button. the machine making a BLEEP noise. 

“When its out of tape it makes a really obnoxious BWEEP noise” she finished “All set?”

“Yeah, I’m all set” He nodded. “You guys ready?”

“I'm all set. Are you ready, Papyrus?”

Papyrus came out of the bathroom wearing his long scarf wrapped around his chest, with just enough of it making a cape behind him “THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS READY!!” he announced to them, and the older kids grinned widely

And so the filming began. All in one take, Sans recorded the sort of epic adventure of Papyrus the Brave, who at the end of his treacherous journey where at some point he rescued twelve princes and princesses, ate a mountain of spaghetti.. and even broke the barrier with the power of his smile, he was given the title of Sir Papyrus the Great by the King Queen (Played every so graciously by Tuffet- who just for Papyrus had put on her fanciest dress for the role) 

 

At the end, Papyrus and Tuffet held up pieces of paper with “credits on them” and the last one was held by TUffet, who grinned as she read it aloud 

“And last but certainly second only to Papyrus is our camera man, Sans” 

Sans hoped to god he wan’t blushing as Tuffet took the camera from him 

“Group shot!!” Tuffet called, and grabbed the boys to bring them into frame “Smile!!” She said as she grinned. Papyrus did the same, and Sans raised his grin more before Tuffet handed it back to him and he stopped recording 

“Okay…. we’re gonna send this to him?”

“i’ll bring it to him tomorrow” Tuffet said, looking at the time “Ah! Its late! we gotta eat and get ready!” she exclaimed. Papyrus whined 

“But i wanna watch iiiiit” He grumbled. 

“Tomorrow, bro. Let's heat up leftover spaghetti for ya” Sans pat his back and he handed Tuff the camera. While she turned it off and put it away Sans went into the fridge and grabbed a serving of spaghetti, putting it right in the microwave and pressing the buttons necessary to reheat. He practically had this down to an art. The microwave was, for all intents and purposes, his best friend. 

The three ate in silence, and got ready for bed in the same manner. Tuffet had managed to get them a full wardrobe with a little help from a kindly lion-man in hotland who helped her sort through donated clothes, and now the boys had a chest full of shirts and pants and PJs galore. Sans was wearing a shirt with a green eye on it, and large white print that read “EYE SEE”, and Papyrus was in a long nightshirt covered in a pattern of red and yellow that he claimed reminded him of spaghetti. Tuffet wore her pastel cloud nightgown that night and the three of them crowded on the couch, Tuffet turning on the movie channel. They were airing an older film that was about above ground, and they all said they’d wanted to watch it together when they heard about it. 

Sans ended up being the only one to see it through. 

He looked at the painted background, a dark blue with little pricks of white and a large, grey orb. That was the sky… Those were stars… That was the moon. He wondered if one day they’d get to see it. He looked to his right and saw his little brother asleep in Tuffets arms, lying down sideways on the sofa. He smiled gently, and closed his eyes. 

He used to have so much trouble sleeping in his bipedal form. Perhaps it had been related to paranoia. Now that he was living here, naps came easier. Sleep came easier. His smile was almost never forced

He appreciated it. 

===

The next day, King Asgore was delivered a tape, and he watched it in his home while sipping tea after the long day. He laughed, hard, and even cried a little, seeing the small skeleton child “break the barrier” (a tower of blankets and pillows). He even got to see Tuffet in the dress she’d gotten with all her saved money! Oh she looked adorable. 

At the end he watched the camera jostle, and Tuffet turn the camera on her family, on those two skeletons, and grin. The old king recalled his children, and sighed, deeply, smiling into his tea cup

He remembered better times

Mission accomplished


	10. Standing Static Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shared dreams and magic use
> 
> Could it get worse? Debatable

Sans was staring at a white, tiled floor

No…

No!! 

He tried to get up but couldn’t. He was stuck, staring at the tiles, the grout like new, the scratches fresh, the knowledge of what had happened far too close for comfort just behind his eyes. 

Footsteps...

The tapping of bare feet on tile...

That was new

Sans looked up at the door, only able to move his eyes, when a familiar form in a cotton-candy night dress stood in the doorway. 

“Sans?” 

He could only growl in response. She came up to him 

“What kind of freaky dream is this?” She muttered, putting one of her hands on his muzzle “I mean, this place is just a white maze, you’re here, that man in the static is -” Sans suddenly lifted his head at the mention of “the man in the static”. His thoughts raced 

Was this a dream? Whose dream was it? It felt like his... Feeling movement return to him he suddenly bit Tuffets arm. Instead of an "ow!" she just looked at him like he’d grown another head “Can I help you?” She asked, her face turning annoyed. Okay, so maybe this was her dream. 

“Hit me” He spoke, his voice clear. Yeah, this was definitely a dream. 

“What” she furrowed her brow

“You weren’t hurt so this might be your dream, but uh, I’m not sure” He answered, and while still confused, she lifted a fist and hit him in the head. He didn’t feel it at all- only a light press like she pat him condescendingly. “... Or this is mine” It was his turn to furrow his brow “I don’t get what’s happening…”

**((My powers are not so minuscule that I can only invade one mind at a time, Sans))**

The two kids stiffened, Tuffet coming to realize that something real bad wasn’t right. “Sans,. are we…. dreaming together…?”

**(( Looks like the spider picked up on it. I was concerned, considering she will never finish school))**

"Hey Thats mean!” She huffed, straightening out her posture “My schooling has nothing to do with this! What do you want?” 

**((Where you are. I’m shocked at how hard the three of you are to find.))** The voice came through the walls, and Sans could feel Tuffet grabbing onto the fur lining of his parka. She could feel him shaking.

“...Who are you?” Tuffet managed, Sans was relieved that her lisp wasn’t applicable in that sentence

**((Sans and Papyrus’ …. creator))**

“Creator…? You mean… like a father?” Tuffet could only feel more confused. The static - seeming like a standing mass of sludge, was coming into view from the hall. Sans shook his head, looking at the static as it started to form a more solid looking form. 

“.... Pap and I…. we’re experiments, Tuff” Sans corrected “He…. created us in his lab…” He found it easier to move now “... Looks like he wants us back” 

“Experiments? But you’re people!” Tuffet tried to figure out what this meant as the static mass started to turn black, forming a white head, with two back holes for eyes. Sans noted that he looked like himself this time around, which probably meant he was using a lot more magic to astral manifest. 

When the static was done, Sans wished he could see Tuffet’s reaction to the man who made him. All he felt was her tenseness return as she gripped his parka. 

WD Gaster straightened himself out, his height imposing to the two, as a skeletal hand was raised. The pause making Tuffet feel strangely sick - which in and of itself was weird, since this was a dream. He took a step towards the two of them, and while Tuffet took a step back, Sans took a step to the side, covering her

**((Finally using the size I gave you for something other than being a sleeping, immovable object I see))**

Sans growled 

**((... You were belligerent before, but this is just excessive))**

Tuffet watched as white became black and black became white. The inversion was disorienting, but her focus came to rest on the little, white, upside-down heart that was floating just in front of her chest. San’s was just before his forehead

Were they…. in a FIGHT?

Had she the ability, her blood would have run cold when she saw her heart - followed by Sans’- turn blue violet. She looked at Gaster, whose grin looked neutral, but a disturbing kind of genuine. 

With a clenching of an outstretched fist, Tuffet was brought to her knees, her entire body feeling heavy and tense, like if she moved she’d crack. She looked at Sans in a panic, her breathing picking up a fiery pace as she watched Sans get forced onto his stomach, his limbs splayed out and his tail thudding onto the floor

“What are you doing??” Tuffet asserted. The one upside to dreaming is the lack of fear, but it wasn’t helping as the tall skeleton walked over to Sans. The free hand that wasn’t glowing purple was raised, a large syringe was held up, a deep, red liquid that reminded Tuffet of her own eyes was moving around. It looked thick, it looked disgusting

He was aiming for Sans' head

“Stop!! What are you doing??” She shouted, a grimace to her features. 

**((Since this is a dream I cannot hurt him physically, but I can remind him of what he is))** Gaster looked at the syringe **((It will feel like DT, but it won’t be.))**

Sans was shaking, but he seemed so… resigned. Sans was lazy, yes, but he never resigned himself like this! 

Tuffet begged her body to move. Dream or not she could only assume the memories going through Sans’ head. If he was "an experiment", this was commonplace: powerlessness, this imposing man, his magic. 

“He is Sans!!” She asserted, pushing through the violet, managing to get to the her feet with much difficulty “He’s a short lazy shapeshifting skeleton!!” Tuffet announced “He’s not some experiment, and neither is Papyrus!!” 

**((You’re a mostly uneducated spider child who can’t even seem to follow simple tradition. What do you know?))** Gaster spoke, placing the syringe between the eyes on Sans’ muzzle. Sans was staring at her - trying desperately will her with his gaze into shutting up. 

“Sans and Papyrus are wonderful! You’re just…. just static in my head!! This is our dream! Get out!!” Tuffet shouted with authority, her grasp on her mind was stronger than Gaster had anticipated, and he watched in very slight alarm as the violet shattered, revealing the snow white of her SOUL. Her stance was more assured, she reached a hand out - red-violet peeping out

“I may be an “uneducated spider child”, but what I lack in schoolin' I have in magic” she huffed. Sans kinda looked like he’s seen a human with fourheads, he was so astonished. He’d known Tuffet could use magic - she’d told him - but he didn’t know what it did. But when Gaster froze before his thumb could move, and he was pulled taut like a wire, Sans could put the pieces together “It isn’t much, but its enough” 

Sans forced himself up. If Tuffet could do it, if Tuffet believed in him, he could do it too. He backed up, and stood up, feeling his fingers as he changed back. He put his hand in his pockets, and felt the magic well up in his eyes

“I got this, Tuff. You can take your magic away” 

“What? But Sans-”

“Papyrus might be here” He looked over at her, and she startled

“What??”

“Find him” Sans asserted, his expression was scarier than she’d ever seen. The red-violet was dropped but before Gaster could regain control of the situation, he was wrapped in blue. “Regretting that blue magic yet?” Sans looked at Gaster as Tuffet rushed out “What was it you told me? I was gonna give the humans a bad time…?” Sans’ grin was big, almost comical if it wasn’t so damn scary for a 10 year old

“I hope you’re ready for one”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for Papyrus' half
> 
> Also if you have any questions or comments, you can always message me on my Tumblr : Doodleimprovement !


	11. Standing Static Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuffet gets a better idea, and the dream ends

The bright white of the hallway would have blinded Tuffet, had this been real life. But instead it left her feeling cold as she just turned left, further down the hall, down an endless corridor with no turns, and more unfortunately, no doors.

Further and further down, it was starting to get frustrating. She stood still for a moment, thinking over what to do

“PAPYRUS!!!” She yelled, using two of her hands to amplify as she called out for the smaller skeleton

She heard a desperate whine

A doorway appeared, just down the hall. It was black in there. Her heart sunk. 

She practically jumped in, the inverted colored nearly disorienting her again. 

He was here! Standing over Papyrus, who was muzzled, half transformed, strapped to a table taller than Tuffet was. Gaster was not as corporeal looking as he was with Sans. He looked a little see though - but his grip on Papyrus was assured as he dug his nails into Papyrus’ vertebrae. Papyrus was crying. 

“Stop it!!!!” Tuffet screamed, waving her hand as red-violet emerged. She caught him off guard. He was pulled away from Papyrus, straight and stiff. She kept the one hand up and rushed over to Papyrus, whose half blaster face looked almost malformed from discomfort, but not pain. So they were _all_ sharing a dream? Tuffet would have time to ask about all this when they awoke. Tuffet used her free hands to climb the table, and almost instantaneously unting him. Dream logic is the best logic. 

**((You are much more capable than I gave you credit for. Though I am curious about your HP level))**

She opted to ignore him, keeping one arm holding the magic as she pulled the muzzle off of Papyrus’ face. When completely free he took to human form again, fat, glowing orange tears streaming down his tiny face. Tuffet hugged him tightly against her using 4 of her remaining arms. 

**((How can someone who cares so much only have 3 HOPE Points?))**

**** TUFFET  
HP 3  
LV 1  
ATK 5  
DEF 14 

“You don’t need hope to be kind” She answered, picking up a still sniffling and clinging Papyrus and sliding off the table “Just like how having lots of hope doesn’t mean you’re nice”

**** WING DING GASTER   
HP 230  
LV 12  
ATK 20  
DEF 11 

**((I suppose you are right. But don’t think that just because you caught me off guard in a dream doesn’t mean that you could do the same in real life))**

“You’ll never find them!!” She almost shouted “I won’t let you!” 

**((.... Stupid child))**

Tuffet backed out of the room, out of the FIGHT, and as soon as she released the magic, the opening disappeared. 

Tuffet looked at Papyrus, who was done crying, and was clinging to her cotton-candy nightgown, absentmindedly chewing at the pink cotton candy flower

“Are you okay, Papy?” She asked, still holding him, headed back at a brisk pace to Sans. 

“Th-the Great Papyrus was caught off guard!” he replied, clenching his little fists “It was not his greatest moment” 

“We can’t be great all the time” She commented, coming to the black doorway… or, it had been black

It was back to white, which she'd take as a good sign. Gaster was gone. Sans was standing alone, his eyes hollow. Papyrus turned his head when Tuffet stopped walking, and made a face that reminded Tuffet of panic 

“Sans!” Papyrus wiggled out of Tuffet’s grip- his tears seemingly forgotten, and his little feet pitter pattered on the tile as he ran to his big brother. The whites in Sans’ eyes returned at the voice, and Papyrus’ jump-hug was returned. His eyes trained on Papyrus, then on Tuffet. The boy had never looked so relieved

Tuffet grabbed the two boys in a hug “I won’t let him hurt you” she muttered to them, the world around them fragmenting, melting “Not if I can’t help it” She continued. 

The sensation of falling

Tuffet shot up in bed so fast that she collided with Sans’ head. The two of them groaned and leaned away from each other, grabbing their foreheads as Papyrus climbed onto the bed desperately. She rubbed her head. No crack, thank god. She looked across her bed, where Sans was still rubbing his forehead and Papyrus was looking between them

**** SANS  
HP 1  
LV 3  
ATK 1  
DF 1 

**** PAPYRUS  
HP 8  
LV 2  
ATK 6  
DF 3 

…. She’d ask about it another time

“... Guys?” she voiced, their attention turning to her. Sans looked like he was about to cry, Papyrus had tear marks on his cheekbones. “... Was that…. real?”

“In your dreams” Sans answered, quietly. He was still punning. She wanted to groan but was too relieved to be annoyed

“.... You guys.. got some explaining to do” 

“Can we hug first?” Papyrus asked.

Sans looked at TUffet expectantly 

She held her arms out, and they were quickly filled

There was silence in the house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowza that was a ride. I might rewrite this chapter later, depending
> 
> If you have any questions send them over to my tumblr @ Doodleimprovement!


	12. Contemplative

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very short Papy Chap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its so short, I just wanted this out of the way!
> 
> Next chapter will be longer.... much... much... longer

Papyrus stared at his spaghetti, a strange, indiscernible look on his face. Grillby wasn’t really sure why he wasn’t eating, but was inclined to find out. He went over to The little skeleton, who was alone in the booth today. 

“Are you alright, Papyrus?” The flame asked, and Papyrus snapped out of his focus and looked up at him 

“I am always alright!” He replied “When Is Tuffie coming back?” He asked. 

“Tuffet will be done buying things at the market soon, but Miss Cottontail loves to talk so she’ll be a while yet” He explained “Why didn’t Sans come with you again?” 

“Sans has a cough. Tuffie won’t let him leave her bed” Papyrus finally bit into the spaghetti, looking contemplative before swallowing and looking back at Grillby “Hey, Gribbles?”

“its Grillby, Papyrus” 

“Whatever, uh, what do you know ‘bout stats?”

Grillby would have furrowed his brow, if he could. “Well, I know that our Stats are all “Hope Points”, “Attack”, “Defense, and “Level of Violence”. Why, Papyrus?” 

“... Tuffie has really low hope points” He looked at his seat “Sans has lower hope points, but… thats just a thing with him. But Tuffie… She’s so nice, why is her HP so low?” he looked at the older gentleman, hoping for an answer

Grillby knew that Tuffet had low HP, it was something that Asgore had told him when She’d started work. When he’d asked about it, He ended up getting a long, but informative lecture about Tuffet’s background

“Well…” he contemplated his words “Tuffet isn’t a very hopeful person, Papyrus. She’s very definitive” 

“Definitive?” Papyrus’ brow was the furrowed one now

“Yes. It means that she never says maybe. Never “I hope not” but “No”. Never “I hope so” but “Yes” “ He sat across the way from Ppayrus at the booth “She doesn’t want to hope, because she thinks it can be disappointing” 

Papyrus thought back to the dream. He thought back to all the times that Tuffet comforted him and his brother. She never did say “I hope” or “Maybe”. it was always definitive, like Grillby said. 

_“Yes, we’ll go tomorrow”_

_“No, he can’t do that”_

_“Yes, I won’t let anything happen to you”_

_“No, He can’t get you here”_

“Yeah, thats Tuff” Papyrus muttered “Thanks Grillby” 

“Papyrus, why is her HP concerning you? Her Defense is more than enough to protect herself” He tried to assure Papyrus, thinking that maybe the boy was just concerned she might… fall. 

“Hm…. Cause I wanna thank her!” Papyrus answered definitively, nodding as he did so. Grillby couldn’t help but chuckle 

“Alright then” Grillby got up “Need anything?” Papyrus shook his head, and Grillby left him to do what it was Papyrus did while waiting

Papyrus decidedly ate the spaghetti, filled with determination of some kind. He’d talk to Sans about it later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the cutes while you can lol
> 
> If you wanna ask anything, go bother me over at my tumblr, doodleimprovement !


	13. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys. Good times never last

Sans hadn’t seen Tuffet this excited since the Spider Bakery had opened. 

In one set of hands was a VHS tape, and in another was the video camera. Her grin nearly split her face

“... What's the tape?”Sans asked

“A movie!” she grinned 

“... I could gather that” He gave her a skeptical look

“Its a _scary_ movie” She emphasized “Thats safe for kids!” 

“Scary??” Papyrus frowned, holding his scarf “How scary?”

“It's a movie about a skeleton that discovers a secret snow town, like Snowdin!” She explained “Its about a human holiday called “Christmas” she continued “My boss said that his son used to watch it, and there's a scene in the opening that used to scare him every time” She lifted up the camera “I wanna see if it scares us too, so I’m gonna record us watching the first few minutes” 

“Thats dumb” Sans commented

“You’re dumb” Tuffet quipped

“Nobody is dumb!” Papyrus jumped up “If the movies about a skeleton I totally wanna watch it! I won’t be scared!” He pounded his ribs with his fist confidently, making Tuffet giggle 

“Alright, alright, let me set up the camera and put the VHS in. Get comfy on the couch, guys!” Her grin never left as she placed the camera on the dining room table, angling it to face them on the couch, and checking to make sure it wasn’t too zoomed in, getting a nice view from her couch to the door. Tuffet hit the big red button, making sure it was recording. She then walked over and turned on the ancient piece of tech that the Royal Engineer had fixed for the king and then he’d given to her as yet another gift. She was starting to feel spoiled. Though if it helped keep Sans and Papyrus occupied on the days they didn’t come with her on her mail runs, she’d live. She shoved the VHS in, and took residence on the left side of Sans. The previews started

The movie hadn’t even really begun when there was a knock at her door. Sans looked towards it

“We expecting anybody?” He asked

“No… Maybe its Mister Grillby?” Tuffet got up, calling out “Who is it?” She head towards the door. 

**“So, I’ve finally found you”**

The door was effortlessly opened, nearly coming off its hinges.A tall, imposing skeleton standing in the doorway, eye sockets empty, hands in the pockets of his long, black cloak

Any lingering smiles stopped

“... You” 

**“Lets not make this difficult”** The Royal Scientist spoke in what Tuffet would have called an even tempered tone, had there not been a vague heavy feeling in the air **“I will take what is mine and leave”** He looked to start to take a step, when his foot… hit something. The shield. Tuffet felt her voice return

“Y-you can’t enter our house!!’ She announced “K-king Asgore put up the protection himself! P-people with bad reasons to be here can’t come in!” 

**“...So vague, but apparently effective”** He tapped the barrier, certainly solid, and using magic against magic would be ineffective. Sans got off the couch and went up beside Tuffet

“..Leave us alone” The boy clenched his bony fists “You can just make more of us, can’t you?”

 **“You’re irreplaceable, S-1, P-1”** His eyes wandered to the younger skeleton, who was hugging a pillow like it would protect him from his gaze. 

“Go away!” Tuffet shouted “You can’t get them here! You can’t even get inside” 

Gaster relaxed his tense looking shoulders. **“Then I will get them out here”**

Tuffet raised a hand, poised and ready to use her magic. She was already coming up with a plan. She couldn’t-

DING

She shivered, and looked down at her exposed, blue-violet SOUL. Wait, how could he do that? They weren’t in a fight! His hand was out of his pocket, palm side up. He raised his hand and her stiff form was raised off the ground, slightly

 **“I will make this easy. If they come with me, I won’t shatter you”** He stated, his tone was calm. She could feel herself shaking, her breath becoming uneven. Sans looked at him, then at her. He seemed like he wanted, desperately to say something, but before he could put his foot in his mouth, Tuffet raised her voice

“You can’t have them!!!” She announced, “They’re not yours! They’re themselves! I… I won’t let you!!” 

Sans would have been touched were he not completely terrified. 

Gaster sneered, and without a second though, flicked his hand - almost carelessly- to the right, flinging the small spider into the stone wall of her own house. The cracking sound made Sans gag. The pained squeal made his bones cold. Papyrus screamed her name, scrambling off the couch, running over to her looking at her, flapping his arms up and down

“Saaans!!!” He practically screeched. Sans looked back at Gaster, who simply stared back at him before running over to the wall, kneeling down and gently, with a shaking hand, grabbed her uninjured shoulder

She was almost crumbling

The side of her body he’d slammed into the wall looked like it’d crumble if he so much as breathed on it. The cracks on her face had closed three of her eyes, the crack on her shoulder threatened to break off her dominant arm. Her left leg was so badly cracked that pieces were literally falling off, exposing … something Sans didn’t want to see. Papyrus grabbed his shirt sleeve, and he looked from the dazed spider to his little brother

“Sh-she only got one left” Papyrus whimpered. Sans knew what he meant. He looked back at TUffet. Her glasses had fallen off, but hadn’t broken somehow. She was looking beyond him, almost. 

“.. Its gonna be okay Tuff.” Sans tried saying without a choke in his voice “You’ll be okay. We-”

“No… You’re not!” she whimpered, holding back cries of pain “I won’t!! You can’t!!” 

He grabbed a good hand “... Tuff, Tuff he’s gonna kill you” He choked out 

“...We have to” Papyrus added, grabbing another hand “We’ll…. We’ll be okay” 

“No!!” She hissed, tears going down her good eyes. “You can’t!!” She repeated. Sans squeezed her hand, blue tears on his cheekbones, joining his brother who had been crying for some time now. 

**“I don’t have all day”** Voiced Gaster. Sans sneered, but complied, standing up and with pain his features, prying his hand from Tuffets, and doing the same with Papyrus. 

“...Drink your tea” Papyrus managed to say, his little voice choking as he gripped his scarf. 

“No.. Please!!” She begged, grabbing onto the hanging curtain with one hand to give her little body some leverage “Sans… Papyrus….” She put a hand on her face, as if to keep it from crumbling further “No…” 

Sans turned Papyrus away from Tuffet, and pushed him towards the door

“I… I’ll… I’ll get you back!!” She called out, “I..”

“Don’t”

Sans’ voice left her cold, and she watched them step out of her house, passed the threshold, out into the cold damp swamp of Waterfall. Gaster looked back at her, and raised his hand again briefly, blue violet magic pulling her hair bow right out of her hair, and into his hand. He cryptically pocketed it, and shut the door with the same magic. 

She was along for the first time in nearly 9 months.

An obnoxious beeping noise rang in her ears after a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GO TO THIS LINK http://doodleimprovement.tumblr.com/post/139426810109/greetings


	14. ACT ENDING : Victorious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tuffet decides to ACT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Here it goes! This is the longest chapter so far at over 5000 words. I hope you like it. Please read the notes at the end for a little surprise!

Something had Grillby on edge. He honestly wasn’t sure why he felt so jittery. He wasn’t a tense person- hadn’t been since the war- but he kept feeling like something was wrong. Very wrong. 

_-rrrring!-_

He turned his head to the phone on the wall, picking it up and cleaning off a glass. He just needed to busy himself 

“Grillby’s” he answered as he held the phone to his face between his cheek and shoulder

He was greeted with breathy, pained sobs of his name, in a voice he could barely recognize. He put down the glass and held the phone more firmly with a hand

“... Tuffet? Tuffet is that you?” he held up a hand to a customer who was trying to talk to him

“Gr-Grill-Grillby--” she sobbed into the receiver “H-He-He took…. They’re… They’re gone and, and I couldn’t- I couldn’t-!!” Her sobs overtook her again, and they were so loud that the table of dog guards turned their heads towards the bartender in curiosity. The bartender wasn’t sure what was going on and nearly asked before hearing a disturbing yell of pain. That got even lesser dog’s attention

“Tuffet!! Tuffet what happened?” He almost shouted into the receiver “Hand me to Sans, or Papyrus” 

“Th-they’re gone!!” she sobbed “He took them an-and I-I’m all- I’m cracked and- and I- I broke and” 

“You broke?? Tuffet are….you alone at your house??”

“Y-yes….” She answered, her sobs seeming to have ebbed. He heard a vague beeping sound in the background

“I’m coming” He told her, keeping a firm tone. “Don’t move”

“O-Okay.” she answered back, her voice was breathy. He hung up the phone 

“Everybody out! I’m closing up!” Grillby called out to the patrons. Dogamy approached him 

“Grillby, what is going on?” The hooded gaurd asked 

“That spider girl that delivers the mail” 

“Little Tuff?” Dogaressa voiced, already next to her husband

“Yes. It think she’s been hurt. She walk talking about her exoskeleton being cracked. I don’t know what happened” Grillby put on his coat, watching all but the royal guard leave his place of business 

“Oh, thats awful! Get going then, We’ll close up here” Dogaressa assured him

“You’re sure?”

“Of course!” Dogamy nodded “Keep us posted. We have your cell phone number” 

Grillby nodded to them, and swiftly left for the river person

When he got to the house, the door was unlocked and he let himself in. Looking about he saw Tuffet in her sad, broken state by the wall, and with practiced tenderness knelt down in front of her. The first thing is eyes were drawn to was the gaping hole in her leg, and the crack on her arm that threatened to break it off. One of her hands was gripping an ancient cell phone. There was a faint beeping sound in the background that he opted to ignore for the time being

“Tuffet?” He said her name, making her look up- it seemed like she hadn't registered him arriving. Only two of her eyes were actually open, she looked like she’d been crying for a long time. He grabbed her glasses off the ground, and gently placed them on her face so she could seem him. “Tuffet, you can tell me how this happened when I’ve gotten something in you to drink” He decided, and stood up “Don’t move” He instructed, and went over to her kitchen, grabbing some of the golden flower tea she had in a tin on the counter - a gift from Asgore, obviously-, a mug, and putting tap water in said mug. He heated it up in his hand, and came over to her holding the already to temperature tea to her lips “Drink” he ordered, and she did. He made sure she drank the entire mug of tea, which started her healing right up. By the end of the final sip, she had reopened all of her eyes, and her arm was no longer at risk of falling off. When he was sure he couldn’t break her, he picked up the small 12 year old and placed her on the couch, getting her another mug, which she drank. He observed her stats carefully and watched as 2.4 became 3, and save for the discoloration on her leg, she was back to normal. Her eyes were still flooded with tears, but she was no longer at risk for dust. 

He waited a few, precious moments before speaking again “Tuffet… What happened?” He asked, watching her tense body language 

“He… He… He took Sans and Papyrus” She sniffed, grabbing herself. “He… He used..” 

The beeping went off again, there was sudden recognition in Tuffet’s eyes

“...The video camera” She whispered, looking over at the dining table. Grillby followed in suit, spotting the recorder

“... Did that capture what happened to you and the boys?” He asked, keeping his voice even. She nodded, suddenly grabbing his shirt sleeve 

“We-We have to go to King Asgore!!” She announced, suddenly getting up, though it hurt. She cringed, but managed an even walk to the table, grabbing the camera and turning it off “Its all on here!! He took them!!” 

“Who took them? Tuffet, you’re not making much sense” Grillby admitted, watching the girl put on a light poncho before turning back to him

“I can” She was shaking “iIcan explain everything there… I just… I need help! THEY need help!!” She gripped the camera with all of her hands, and Grillby realized there was no reasoning or explanation to be had, so he nodded, and got up from the couch, picking her up with little effort 

“The river person knows a shortcut” He assured, starting to run. The faster he got through waterfall, the sooner he’d know what had happened. Papyrus and Sans were taken? Who was “he”? Did “he” hurt her? 

Whoever this bastard was, he was in for a mighty bad time

==

King Asgore had seen many things in his lifetime, but the formal Corporal holding a small spider and a camera claiming that terrible things had been caught on it was oddly specific and new. 

The moment he saw Tuffet he’d known something was amiss. The tried tears on her cheeks, and the disturbing discoloration on her leg was enough to tip him off, not to mention the fact that she had come in the arms of a very concerned former Royal Guard and Army Officer. Instead of saying anything, Tuffet was working on taking out the VHS to give to the king, who was watering his flowers as he always did this time of day. 

“...What happened?” He asked, his low voice staying tender. Tuffet looked practically exhausted- she didn’t even have her hair bow, but with a firm expression, she shoved the tape forward 

“She said that her two friends, Sans and Papyrus were taken… and that the tape caught it all” 

Tuffet nodded, her expression was hard to read. Asgore took the tape from her, and then with one giant, fuzzy hand, took her from Grillby. 

“Lets go back into my home. There is a TV there and we can see what happened” He looked to Grillby, who nodded and made his way out of the room. Tuffet was hugging him, her face buried in the front of his royal robes. She was crying. His entire body relaxed, and he adjusted his hold so her head rested on his much more manageable shoulder. He carried the small spider into his home,where Grillby had already located and plugged the television in. Asgore handed him the tape, and Grillby put it in, pressing rewind. The silence - save for some sniffles and shushes was oddly welcomed before the click of the VHS player told them the tape was done rewinding. 

Grillby pressed play, and watched as the visual static roared and the video turned into a feed of Tuffet’s entire living room, with a clear view from the door to her room to the front door. 

“... Fast forward” Tuffet voiced, and Grillby nodded, clicking the little button. They watched in fast motion as Tuffet, papyrus, and Sans sat and watched a movie, when he saw Tuffet get up he pressed play again, and looked to her, and she nodded. 

What happened next gave Asgore a flare of pure rage he hadn’t felt in years. 

Grillby had wanted to set fire to the tape. The desperate way that Sans had said “Don’t” reminded him of his own past. Of his own disturbing origins.

“Grillby, call the entirety of the royal guard. Tell the dogs to take up positions at the border between Hotland and Waterfall, and tell the elites to do a proper raid of the new lab.” Asgore ordered “I know that you are no longer in the- “

“Say no more” Grillby raised a hand “... I’m sorry we both had to find out Doctor Gasters true nature in this way.” He commented before rushing out of Asgore’s home. Tuffet hadn’t dared to look at the screen, and Asgore did his best to cover her head with his hand, so she wouldn’t have to hear or anything. 

“Tuffet” he looked at the tiny, trembling girl “You were very brave, and very smart. You were right to call for help.” He affirmed, and Tuffet nodded, He wiped her eyes “We’re going to get them, and Gaster will be arrested, alright? He will never hurt you or the boys ever again” Tuffet nodded more. Asgore enveloped her in a hug “You did a good thing, Tuffet.” He reassured again. All of her arms tried their best to hug him, and he appreciated the effort

Her pain would not go to waste. She’d nearly sacrificed her life for them. That would not be in vain

Gaster was going to get what’s coming 

==

Sans had been staring at the tile floor from his cage for what felt like days. He knew it hadn’t been days. It had barely been hours. But the change from the grey, welcoming walls of Tuffets small home to the wide, white-painted panels was so jarring that despite living in this cage most of his life, it felt alien. 

Papyrus had been sobbing quietly since Gaster had left them be in their cages. The man didn’t even have the decency to let them share the larger cage. Perhaps he was punishing them? Probably. 

“I-I… I never got to say goodbye…” Papyrus whimpered. They’d both been forcibly changed into their blaster form, and the boy was muttering in the whimpers and groans of their blaster tongue. 

Sans desperately wished he knew what to say. He wished he could tell Papyrus that they’d see her again, that they’d be a family again. But… that just didn’t seem likely. He didn’t have the heart to tell Papyrus that Tuffet might have died from her wounds - which he prayed to whatever gods might exist that she hadn’t. He stared out, quiet, angry, sad, lost. He had no idea how quickly he’d miss that old, small couch, or her lisp, or the smell of oatmeal. He’d been there for a few hours and it felt like he’d been gone years. He was sure he was crying too at this point, but he covered his eyes with his claws, hoping that Papyrus wouldn’t look his way

He had to continue to be strong, however long it would take. 

===

WD Gaster finally felt his life fall back into place. His experiments were back in their case, that spider girl was probably dead from her wounds (and if she wasn’t she didn’t matter anyway), and he could continue life as normal- which he hadn’t been able to do in a little less than a year since S-1 and P-2 had fled him. 

He celebrated by having a drink on the observation deck overlooking his second greatest invention- the core- while staring at the bubbly in his glass. Today was a good day, and it wasn’t even 6 PM! Such Pleasantries.

Then there was a knock on the door to the observation deck, and a shout of “DOCTOR GASTER, THIS IS THE ROYAL GUARD”

“... Come in?” The scientist said - confused, and his deck was surrounded with at least 8 guards, two standing in the center. One of them was a Fish-man, tall with an angry-looking grimace.The other was Grillby, dressed in his army uniform - something Gaster never expected to ever see him in again. In the doorway stood Asgore - with a face that betrayed a rage that Gaster had not seen since the death of his child and the human

“Wingding Gaster…. I have seen your sins” The king spoke, his voice firm, deep and strong. He was in his armor, there was something in his arm, obscured partially by darkness, partially by his cape. “You stole away two children, and nearly killed a third” He spoke, and Gaster felt his sins crawl up his back. 

“.... Asgore what are you talking ...a...bout…” His sentence died in his throat as the king stepped in, and what… or better yet, who … was in his arms was finally revealed.

The spider girl, gripping a VHS tape in two of her hands. Despite discoloration, she looked completely healed. Her gaze was one of bravery in fear

“Care to repeat yourself?” Grillby spoke, he was practically smoking “I saw the tape, how you slammed a 12 year old girl against a stone wall” 

“How you threatened those boys” Asgore put Tuffet down, who hid behind the fishman “That you would dust her if they didn’t come with you” 

Gasters gaze hardened. He frowned. “Allow me to ex-”

“There is nothing to explain” The fishman announced. “You will tell me where in this facility those boys are, and If you don’t I will make you” A spear pointed at him 

Gaster weighed his options, and sneered “The below the core, in the abandoned labs” He answered, curtly. His expression didn’t change from the sneer. Tuffet looked up at the fish man. 

“You will remain here until we retrieve and have ensured the boys’ safety. And when that has been established, you will be formally arrested and tried for your crimes” Asgore laid out the plan, and the guards surrounding Gaster stayed at attention. Gaster grit his teeth

He wasn’t sure how things had gone to shit so fast

It wasn’t even 6 PM

==

Tuffets little legs ached, one more than the other, but she was still outrunning the guard as they descended the stairs into the old, abandoned labs. They had been the first labs before the actual laboratory in Hotland had been constructed. It was nothing but grays and whites with bright lights. She remembered these halls.They were in that dream they all shared. She turned a corner and paused, panting. It felt familiar

“Tuffet! Tuffet for the love of Ebott above take a moment!” The voice of the guard followed her “You might fall and break your glasses again, or aggravate your newly regenerated patch on your leg” He explained, finally catching up 

“... I still can’t believe you’re a ‘part time’ guard” Tuffet looked up at him, and he grinned a fishy grin 

“I’m full of surprises, sweetheart. Now, let’s find those boys, alright?” Sargent Kevgil pat her back and nudged her forward, and she started walking down the hall, wondering if there was anyway to know which door hid the boys. She decided to just try yelling

“PAPYRUS!!!!” She cupped a pair of hands round her mouth “SANS!!!”

She waited, begging silently for a response.

_“MMM!!”_

A muffled reply down the hall. Malcom beat her to the run, getting ahead a little in the hall as she ran after him. She continued to yell their names, following the muffled reply before coming up to a door

“Are you in there!!?” Tuffet shouted, putting her ear to the door. She heard something, and looked up at her eye doctor. He gently pulled her away, and, using an energy spear, stabbed the keypad lock and kicked open the door. 

Tuffet rushed in, and met the eyes of the two bone monsters stuck in cramped cages. Sans looked like he was staring at a ghost. There was a moment before he let out a whimper, blue tears glistening at the edge of his sockets. Papyrus started yipping and letting out what could only be compared to barks and freaking out. 

Malcom came in and grinned “Hello boys. I need both of you to duck.” 

They looked bewildered for a number of reasons, but did as they were told, and he sliced off the top of their cages. Papyrus climbed up the horizontal bars and Sans did the same, the two of them already changing into their bipedal forms before they even hit the tile. 

Tuffet was already crying tears of relief as they stumbled onto their feet and into her outstretched arms. She clung to them like her life depended on it, Sans was grabbing at Papyrus and Tuffet and leaning into her shirt were his blue tears stained it. He pulled back

“H-how did you…?”

“Sans, it was all on tape… I showed it to king Asgore, and …. He’s gonna get arrested” Tuffet summed up the last few hours “I promised you I’d come” She affirmed, a hand on his head to knock their foreheads together. Papyrus- not wanting to be left out, nudged his way between them

“Now I can say goodbye and hello!”He announced, and Tuffet chuckled a little

“No goodbyes here” Tuffet kissed Papyrus’ head “Only “see you laters”" She looked over to Malcom

“You kids are gonna make me cry” He smiled at them 

“.... Doctor Kevgil is in the royal guard?” Papyrus raised an eyebrow

“Part time” Tuffet corrected, finally parting the hug. She got up “Come on, we have to get back to King Asgore” She reached her arms out, seeing something she should have noticed before “...You’re naked” 

“.... Is it bugging you?” Sans gave her a look she would have been annoyed were she not happy to see it again. 

“..Not sure, but not important” Tuffet shook her head. “Come on!” she led them out the door, and Malcom waited for the kids to file out before following behind. 

The four of them backtracked and the tired victory on Sans’ face made it all worth it as they reached the top of the stairs and made their way back to the core observation deck. 

Asgore was in the door frame, and turned his head when he saw them coming. Malcom could tell on his expression that something was wrong

“Your highness?”

“Stay back.” He ordered, but that didn’t stop Tuffet from pulling back the cape and looking inside. 

There was dust everywhere, which widened all of her eyes, and Gaster was against the railing, Grillby standing before him with a hand bursting with flames, threatening

“Grillby, this is hardly the time for idle threats” Gaster spoke, his hands halfway out in a gesture of “come now”. 

“Do not fool yourself. My threats are never idle” The fire monster spoke “You deserve all ill will I can bestow upon you” 

“You are hardly a judge” He raised an eyebrow. 

“But I am” Asgore spoke. He flicked his cape back to get TUffet to back up, and she did. “You have killed 8 of my royal guard simply because you could, as if a display of power could get you out of your predicament” He stepped in. Tuffet grabbed the hands of the skeleton brothers, and squeezed them as the doorway became clear. Asgore got behind Grillby - though a few feet away for movements sake. Sans and Papyrus stared, but oddly enough, Gaster’s eyes never left Grillby and Asgore. Malcom remained with the children, deeming that his priority in the current moment. 

There was an awful silence. 

Then, suddenly, a PING

Tuffet felt heavy

“Oh no you don’t” Grillby’s words were spit like venom, and his flaming hands grabbed Gaster’s arms, and in a move that started everyone, yanked in into a hold, and SUPLEXED him right into the floor. 

Tuffet no longer felt heavy in the SOUL, but she was starting to feet lightheaded from all this drama. 

Gaster was far less than pleased, to say the least. He crackled with even more purple energy than before when his head hit the tile, and it fractured about, snapping at the ground with physical form. When it slammed against the floor, cracks appeared on the tiled floor of the observation deck.

If they were moving before, everyone but Grillby and Gaster froze. The two were essentially in the wrestling match at this point, Grillby easily pinning down the much weaker skeleton. The cracks in the floor were getting worse. Tuffet finally found her voice

“King Asgore!!!!” She shouted, her arms outstretched to keep Sans and Papyrus - whose eyes were also glowing with energy from jumping in or doing something stupid. “The floor's gonna collapse!!” She announced, and Asgore, who had been waiting for a moment to grab Gaster from Grillby, snapped back into reality and looked to Malcom 

“Get the kids in the hall” He instructed, and Malcom nodded, putting himself in front of the trio and ushering them back into the safety of the not-suspended hallway. Tuffet made a noise of discomfort and worry that Sans had heard about a dozen times before, and from personal experience knew it wouldn’t end well 

“Tuff…” He started, but she was already ducking under Malcom’s cape and rushing into the room, all of her hands were glowing with her red-violet energy, and she narrowed her eyes. Suddenly, Gaster was separated from Grillby, and suspended about a foot in the air, stuck. 

Grillby looked back at the small spider - partially startled but mostly grateful, and stood up. Before he could get out another speech about judgement or something, the cracks in the floor started making actual noise, and all on the deck were coming to the realization that they were going to fall into the core if they didn’t move. Asgore looked at them, and backed himself into the hall - taking most of the weight off the deck with him. Grillby walked towards Tuffet Carefully, whose focus was about 70 percent on Gaster and 30 percent on Grillby. 

He walked slowly, not wanting to put too much weight on either foot, but as he reached out to grab her and made a dash for the door, there was a frightening _-CRK!-_ and the floor began to fall out from under them. Tuffet’s magic left her, and Grillby hardly registered Gasters shouts and curses as he descended. He was too focused on Tuffet, whose small form was falling from his grasp faster than he could reach. He had to get her, he had to try! He wasn’t going to let her die now! Not after all they’d been through! But before hope could leave him, he felt the sensation of falling stop

Tuffet and him were suspended in a bright, baby blue light. the two were clearly a bit confused as they started to float up, and were greeted by the happiest skeleton on the entire planet, his eye blazing blue and his hand up but shaking. Asgore and Malcom wasted no time pulling Tuffet and Grillby respectively into the hallway and letting Sans turn off the glowing eye. Tuffet briefly hugged Asgore before squirming from his big arms and essentially tackling Sans, who was also hugged by Papyrus

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” she whimpered “Thank you…” 

Sans sighed, his grin widening as he pulled her into the hug “Don’t even mention it, Tuff. You-” 

**_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_ **

Grillby looked back into the broken deck, and stared in shock as the core began to shine brighter, and brighter, and brighter, and BRIGHTER “Shield your eyes!! We have to go!!” He shouted, as waves of magic radiation started to flow off of the core. 

Asgore gathered up all three of the kids in his one arm, and rushed out, feeling a surge of magic surge through him from the pulsations of the core, as the three adults rushed out, Asgore finding an intercom and telling the scientists to use the overflow chambers -NOW. 

The group left the core facility, and sat in a clearing near the river person’s station. Tuffet and Sans looked downright exhausted, but Papyrus was a ball of energy, freaking out and shouting about how dangerous that whole ordeal had been and that if it was up to him they would have just left right away. Tuffet and Sans fought the surges of magic from the core and their own tiredness to keep him occupied while the adults excused themselves to speak 

“.... I haven’t been this stressed out since the war” Grillby mentioned, sitting down and putting a hand through nonexistent hair “But we got the kids out. We lost men, but we stopped him from doing worse than he could have” He summed up. 

Malcom nodded “But what do we do now? Let them go back to living together in waterfall?”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea” Asgore spoke evenly, despite the magic hum causing his fur to stand on end “Tuffet is on the cusp of the ever-turbulent teenage years, and while I don’t want her alone for it, having Sans and Papyrus there might be a bit too much stress” He explained, “But where will the boys go?”

“If they wish, I would gladly take them in. Tuffet can come whenever she likes to see them” Grillby voiced “They’re good kids, I’d be pleased to give them a roof over their head, and maybe enroll them in the school” 

“That sounds like a good idea” Malcom nodded “But I think you should let them sleep over at Tuffets’s and talk to them about it tomorrow” He looked back “.... They’ve earned it” 

Asgore smiled “I concur” He got up and went to the children “Tuffet, Sans, Papyrus. We want to talk to you about a few things, but I think that sleep is in order.” Papyrus whined a little, but yawned 

“Well, I guess someone as great as me, who was so brave deserves some sleep too” He shrugged dramatically. Tuffet giggled a little and picked him up. She may have been tired, but she carried him with three arms, and wrapped a hand around Sans’

“We’re gonna go home” She announced, a small, exhausted grin showing with her little fangs poking out. Malcom smiled at them. 

“Grillby will escort you home” Asgore nodded to the fire man, and Grillby nodded back, coming over to the kids. 

“Thank you, King Asgore” Sans voiced, and Asgore smiled genuinely, patting his head

“I expect more movies from the three of you when you’ve recovered from all this” he teased. Sans grinned almost smugly

“I’ll make sure they’re movie-ing” 

Tuffet groaned “Sans that was bad even for you” She started leading them over to the river person, with Grillby finally falling back into his comfortable silence as he followed them

Malcom took out a water bottle from a satchel on his side, pouring it on himself “Alright, I gotta get back to BelowGround, your highness” 

Asgore nodded to this “Thank you, Malcom. I know this was last minute” 

“Don’t even mention it, your highness. I was happy to help these kids.” He put the bottle away “You think they’ll be okay?”

“I’m sure of it” Asgore affirmed and that was all Malcom needed. He bowed to his king, and left for the small elevator in the apartment complex that led to his home

And with that, Asgore was alone. The king took in a heaving sigh, and walked his way back to New Home. He spent the time thinking about how that all could have gone wrong. And how it hadn’t. 

He supposed he had some good luck left in him. Thank god it went to those kids. 

He knew it. They’d be just fine 

\--

Tuffet spent about ten minutes in the morning checking and double checking her haul before she left her home for Snowdin. It was Gyftmas! Her first one spent with her “New family” as she called them. 

The little spider rushed herself o the river person, whose mood was more jovial than usual, singing some old human hymns about a savior and a star. As if Tuffet’s mood could get better. She stepped into Snowdin with a spring in said step, and - carrying three wrapped presents- rushed herself into the center of town where the Grytmas tree was set up. Waiting for her there was a well dressed fire elemental, and her favorite skeletons, who, once making eye contact rushed towards her and tackled her from both sides

“Happy Gyftmas!!” Papyrsu announced

“Good to have you here” Sans grinned. 

“I was here two days ago, you losers” She teased “But is great to see you guys too. I got your Gyftmas gifts right here” She spoke as they walked with the two on either side. “Lemme give ‘em out” 

They reluctantly let go, and TUffet handed out her gifts. A green box for Sans, a red box for Papyrus, and a small, blue box for Grillby

“You didn’t have to get me anything, dear” He took the box anyway as she grinned and shrugged. 

Papyrus was already digging into his box, and squealed as he held an action figure in his hands “ITS AMAZING THANK YOU!!” He announced “I can finally start the collection I’ve always wanted!!” He held the figure up in the air “Imma put it in the house!” He announced before rushing off towards Grillby’s house. Sans and Tuffet laughed in tandem, and Sans opened his present, staring inside and lifting it up

“1001 terrible and awful jokes” He stared at the comically large book with an amused smile

“Look inside” Tuffet urged, and he opened it. Inside was “STAR STUFF”. “I found it at the dump a few weeks ago. Its about the stars and the sky on the surface.” She explained “They’re like the stars in waterfall, but totally different” She watched the grin on his face widen, and he gave her a sincere side hug. She grinned back and looked at Grillby 

He was staring at a “#1 Flame Dad” pin, hand painted and surprisingly well made. He would be grinning like an idiot if he could. 

“Thank you, Tuffet. I will save it for special occassions” He nodded in approval. 

Sans grabbed a red and blue polka dot wrapped gift under the tree and held it out to her “Here ya go” 

Tuffet grinned and grabbed it, opening it and looking inside. She lifted the black fabric out of the box

“... A coat?” She observed the coat - with six professionally sewn sleeves and double breasted with golden buttons. 

“You really needed a new one” Grillby spoke “It was San’s idea though” 

“I helped too!” Papyrus yelled as he came back. 

Tuffet was grinning ear to ear and grabbed Sans into a hug - also grabbing Papyrus as he ran over. She waved Grillby over with a free hand and he indulged her, the four of them entering a warm hug, full of gratitude and love

“This is the best possible ending” Muttered Papyrus

Tuffet was inclined to agree

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://asktuffandbros.tumblr.com/
> 
> Tuffet and the Skelebros are here to ask any lingering questions you might have! Please go ahead and ask them questions!


	15. FIGHT ENDING: If You Love Me Let Me Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The worse possible Ending

How had things gone so, so wrong? 

Sans and Papyrus were currently forced behind Grillby, who was behind Asgore,Whose trident was pointed at Gaster, whose one hand was glowing, pointed at the guards, and whose other hand had a firm, tense grip on the neck of a certain little spider, being dangled over the core. 

It had all happened so quickly! Grillby had been tasted with finding Sans and Papyrus after Asgore had called him in. He explained that Tuffet had left the video recorder- which was caught everything- as his doorstep, and that they had no idea where she was. Grillby reasoned that she had gone to find the boys herself, and hoped that she wasn’t disoriented enough to think that she could take Gaster on herself. Grillby had gone into the old labs with Sargent Malcom Kevgil after searching the newer labs, and located the boys… but no Tuffet

But he’s been too late to intercept. By the time he arrived at the Core facility, Tuffet was already in Gasters grip. And then tense atmosphere stayed was cranked to an 11 when the boys finally caught glimpse of her

Tuffets eyes caught Papyrus’, and he could feel the desperation, watching her grab his arm with all of her hands, gripping tightly

“Gaster, you are doing nothing but dig yourself into a deeper hole” Asgore announced. The tall skeleton sneered

“If you take one step, this child will fall, and will cease to have ever existed” He threatened. No one in the room fully understood was that last bit meant, but they could tell it was more than not good.

“We will not move, Gaster” Grillby’s crackling interceded. 

“Then there will be a never ending impasse” Gaster answered. 

There was more silence. Tuffet’s strained breathing and the crackling of Grillby’s fire was all that remained. 

“You…. won’t.. Get away with this..” Tuffet strained, feeling his grip get slightly tighter, and a small cracking was heard. She hissed

“Give me 1S and 1P and let me go, and I will spare her” He announced 

“We cannot do that, Gaster” Asgore warned, his voice was vaguely weary

“Then say goodbye to you friends, child” His eyes went back to her, and was perplexed by her strangely determined face. There were tears in her eyes, her grip tightened. She glanced at Sans and Papyrus, a look on her face that was hard for them to read

“You should say it to” Tuffet announced, her voice somehow clear. 

“Say what?” Papyrus almost shouted, desperately trying to get passed Grillby’s arm

“... Goodbye” She shut her eyes tightly

and with all her strength, yanked Gaster over the railing with her

The resounding sounds of shouts and Papyrus’ high pitched scream barely reached Sans’ ears as he rushed past Grillby. His eyes glowed bright, brilliant cyan as he pushed himself up against the bars, watching, as if in slow motion, her dark body contrasted against the light of the CORE. 

He reached, desperate. If he could just get her blue! Blue! Blue! 

White

The surge of light left him temporarily blinded, but he didn’t move. He just, kept, reaching. Tears pricking his socket

He felt himself getting picked up and immediately struggled against the gip “Sans! Sans we have to go! The core is going to overload!” 

“No!! No!!” The small skeleton screamed “Tuffet!!!” 

Grillby gripped him tightly, not allowed him to squirm free as they ran out of the observation deck as waves of intense, magic radiant flowed around them. By the time they left the CORE and entered the lobby of the apartment complex, Sans had stopped, his eye sockets were blank. Papyrus was crying in Malcom’s arms, who was gently, so gently shushing him. Tears pricking his own eyes. 

Asgore stood solemnly, gripping his trident tightly.

Other than Papyrus’ sobs, the lobby was silent. 

Grillby adjusted Sans in his arms, and got a good look at him. He was unharmed, physically…

“Sans? Sans, look at me” 

“She’s dead” he said, lowly. He didn’t look at him. His sockets were still dark “And she took him with her” 

“She saw no other option” Asgore voiced “... it was her, or you and your brother… She deemed it a worthy sacrifice” 

“She DIED!!” Sans shouted, forcing himself out of Grillbys arms with a good push “I could’a caught ‘er!! I coulda saved her!! Thats why she looked at me, right?? She looked at me because she expected me to save her! Right???” 

Grillby took in a deep, nearly labored breath “Sans. She looked at you and your brother, because she wanted that… to be the last thing she saw” He reasoned, taking off his cape and approaching Sans, who was turned away from the adults and curled up. He draped the fabric over him “you’re angry. Let me take you to Snowdin” 

“... Why?” Papyrus voiced from Malcom’s arms. His head was buried under the fish man’s chin

“Because he needs to blow off some steam, and you two can stay with me” Grillby kept his voice even and he looked at Asgore, who nodded, and motioned to Malcom. Malcom brought Papyrus over to Sans, and Papyrus eagerly reached down and hugged his brother. Tightly. 

“C-come on...Sans…. You can be angry there” Papyrus managed, impressing Grillby with his ability to stay as calm as he was… you know, minus the glowing, orange tears. 

Grillby easily picked up both children, and began the long, vaguely tedious walk back to Snowdin. He gave a nod to Asgore and Malcom as he left. 

All was quiet when they arrived. 

Grillby had wrapped the boys up in the cape and was carrying them passed the town, and into the forests near the ruins. Once a safe distance, he took another look at Sans. His eyes were still shut. He was trembling, His canines were notably sharper. Papyrus was curled into Grillby, gripping the fire elemental as if for dear life. 

Grillby put him down on the snowy ground, still holding Papyrus, and untangled him from the blanket. Watching carefully as Sans hands gripped through the snow into the hardened ground. 

“She died….. And…. and I couldn’t grab her…” He finally spoke. “That stupid doctor gave me blue magic… and… and i couldn’t use it!” He slammed his fist on the ground, his voice becoming garbled with growls as Grillby witnessed him shift and reform. Despite transforming, he didn’t move, staring down at his claws

“...Sans” Grillby stepped forward, but stopped when he saw the glow in his eyes. 

“...Tuffet always put us first” Papyrus finally spoke, looking at Sans, but clearly addressing Grillby “.. even then... She chose… to take him with her instead of letting him go… cause… cause she knew he’d hurt us… He’d hurt her so much…. He nearly killed her….“ The small skeleton was just reduced to mumbling and whimpering. Sans let out a low, mournful growl. Before staring ahead at a tree. 

Sans felt his sins…. Or at least, he thought they were his sins. Anger bubbled up inside of him, a desperate, pitiful anger that manifested as a bright magic in his maw before it was expelled, missing the tree by mere centimeters. He let out a sob before finally breaking down, falling on his ribs and covering his face with his claws best he could 

“She’s gone.. She’s gone…. And… an’ I coulda saved her and i didnt” 

Papyrus left Grillbys grip and draped his arms on his brother “its not your fault, Sans. We… we both coulda done something. But, we could not. We are both at fault here…” 

Grillby felt completely helpless, watching the two boys desperately try to comfort each other. He walked over and sat on his knees “Sans? Papyrus?” 

The two looked over

“Come home with me. You’ll catch your death of a cold” He offered his arms, and the boys didn’t really fight it, though Sans did tug on his shirt to grab his attention as he walked

 

“... can we go to Tuffet’s house first?” Sans asked. Grillby was hardly one to refuse. 

He walked them to Tuffet's house, which looked cold and damp right now as opposed to warm and inviting as it always did. It was like the minute she died the welcoming atmosphere did as well The two brothers left his arms, and stood in the doorway, looking in. 

“Do you not want to go in?” Grillby asked 

“.. can we get through the barrier?” Sans voiced, reaching his hand out as if he’d get shocked. Papyrus stepped forward, and with slight hesitation, walked himself inside. Sans reached in, and then walked after

Papyrus walked over to where she’d been slammed against the wall, sitting himself down and picking up the red hair bow that had been left behind. There were little bits of her dust on it. He was shaking

Sans stood there with, looking at the little bits of her dust from when her leg had shattered. It was all of her that was left. These little bits of dust. “... you spread a monster’s dust over what they love…” He murmured, going down on his knees. He quietly contemplated something, before going into Tuffets room.

He came back out with her glasses case. The small, white case was covered in marker drawings of flowers and smiley faces that her and Papyrus had doodled on. He opened it, and inside where her spare pair. The thin wire rims and thick glass belonged on her face. He recalled how her glasses had been sliding off when he reached out for her. Could she see him trying? Had she not seem him trying so hard to get her? He would never know, he supposed

Sans knelt beside Papyrus again, showing the open glasses case. Papyrus understood what he was hinting at, and the two silently gathered what little dust they could into the case. Grillby just watched, knowing that this was just a part of the grieving. He felt his hand grip his upper arm tightly, were he capable of bruising, he’d certainly have some. But now he couldn’t grieve the young spider’s loss. Not right now.

Sans turned his head to Grillby “.. we’re gonna… spend the night here” 

“... alone?” 

Sans nodded. Papyrus nodded too. Grillby sighed, nodded right back 

“I’ll be here first thing in the morning” He stated “... You are welcome to live with me, if you like” 

Sans and Papyrus nodded, and Papyrus’ cracked voice was barely a whisper “I think she’d want that” 

 

The two skeletons didn’t even bother trying to transform before lying down on the couch. Sans’ arms were around Papyrus, and in Papyrus’ arms were all that remained of TUffet. The red Hair bow, and the glasses case of what little dust was left behind of her. 

Grillby turned around, shutting the door, and, with much hesitation, left. They’d be fine… at least, safety wise. 

For now, it was all he could do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna see happier stuff, go onto AskTuffandBros on tumblr! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Half of the endings to go!


	16. FLEE PROLOGUE: Northern Downpour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Progolue to the two "Flee" endings

Tuffet hadn’t moved in what felt like hours. They were… They were gone. They left. They were probably back in Hotland now, in those labs they muttered to her about, and she didn’t know what to do. There… There had to be something. But she just couldn't think. She was in too much pain. 

She needed to sleep, and she did

She awoke feeling completely healed but not really any better than before. She got up, hobbling, and heard the distant, annoying beeping of the… tape! Her proof! She rushed over to it and tuned it off, a feeling of hope building in her chest. This tape! If she could show it to Asgore, everything would be-

There was a knock at her door. “.... Who-who is it?” she called out. 

There was no response. 

Tuffet walked over to the window, and saw no one there, but there was… something in front of her door. She cautiously opened it, looking down, and stared

Before her, in a crumbled heap, was Sans’ jacket, and a ripped part of what she knew to be Papyrus’ scarf. They were covered in a thick, suffocating layer of dust that made her want to throw up. She fell to her knees and let out a pained sound. “No…..” she whimpered, spotting a piece of paper written in plain, almost typeface like handwriting. 

“They fell down”

“No… no… no, no no” she repeated, feeling her voice leave her. She panicked, she was shaking. She grabbed their clothes, tightly with all hands and she screamed. The screams turned into sobs and a constant muttering of “i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry” 

There was nothing she could do now. Her promise was broken. Her family was gone. There was nothing left. 

Nothing but her grief. 

\------  
\---  
\------  
\---  
\------

Papyrus was the only one awake, the day after they had been taken back and placed in their separate cages. He’d spent the first day crying, and was still pouting and refusing to be submissive to Gaster. He told him up front that “We said we’d come with you, not that we would be agreeable” which made him sneer, and Sans tense. 

This, the second day, felt worse than the last though. 

Papyrus found these walls so alien, so uninviting. Papyrus was so used to Tuffet's… his.. home, that he couldn’t, he wouldn’t accept this place as his home again. Home was with Tuffet, sleeping on her couch, eating oatmeal in the mornings. That was home. 

Sans finally got up, growling to him, as the two were in blaster form. He crooned back. Sans had been taking the brunt of the recent round of experiments, and he was much, much more tired than usual. 

Gaster entered a room a few moments later, releasing them, and making them follow him to the balcony overlooking the CORE. They had no idea what time it was, but assumed it was after or before normal hours. He looked down at them “I’ve some bad news for you two” His voice never fluctuated. Papyrus’ brow furrowed, watching Gaster reach into his pocket and taking out a hairbow a little larger than his palm, covered in an unnervingly thick layer of dust “She died of her wounds last night. The king found her dust, and has condemned her home. No one is allowed to enter it, and he’s retreated into his home for a period.” he explained. 

Papyrus was trembling. 

She was… she was dead. 

Dead. 

gone. . . 

He looked to Sans. 

Sans’ eyes were hollow. He wasn’t just trembling, he was full on shaking. He felt a heat build up in his maw, but kept his mouth shut as Gaster turned away from them 

“This is your fault, you two. Had you not run away, she would not have died. Who knows? I might be done with my research, and i’d have let you go by now anyway. But oh well. Monsters fall down and dust all the time.” He turned back around, holding a cup of coffee. “I have more to do and teach you. Perhaps if you behave i won’t keep you in your cages /all/ day” He looked at Papyrus, than at Sans. 

“....” Gaster stood before him “Nothing to say, Sans? No pun? Was she really that important to you two? You were only with her for less than a year. Surely she didn’t mean that much.” He leaned down, over him “Answer me” Gaster waited, and started hearing a high pitched noise. He knew what that noise was. “.... I didn’t teach you that” 

“She did” 

Gaster wasn’t sure which of them had said that when Sans unhinged his jaw and let out the blast, strong and true, right at Gaster’s torso, the monster was flung back, his head violently hitting the lower ceiling of the enclosed balcony before he fell into the core below. Sans was panting, turning back into his bipedal form, still shaking. Papyrus looked at him, changing back too, and grabbing at him 

“S-sans you-” Papyrus couldn’t finish his sentence as the Core began to hiss and bubble with energy, glowing bright, brighter, yet brighter. 

Sans didn’t have time to think as he grabbed Papyrus and ran from the balcony, waves of magic radiation flowing onto them in nearly unbearable waves. They ran, and they ran, and they didn’t stop until they were in the apartment complex, sitting next to the fountain. It must have been late, since no one was around. Sans looked to Papyrus, who was panting, with fat orange tears on his cheeks. His hand was clutching something. 

Sans felt himself crying too. The rage had died down, that single, final moment of defiance wouldn’t be leaving his brain any time soon. But there was a more pressing matter right now. 

Tuffet.. Was dead. 

Papyrus clung to Sans’ ribs, loud sobs echoing in the lobby as the who sat at the edge of the fountain. Sans felt the smaller skeleton shake. “W-we shoulda- we shoulda-we-”

“Shh” Sans muttered, trying not to speak to betray his own, warbled tones. He wrapped himself around Papyrus. They stayed like that for a while, Papyrus sobbing, and Sans forcing himself into silence. Eventually, the smaller skeleton pulled away, and opened his palm. San’s sockets would have widened if that was a thing, but his expression was sufficiently surprised. 

“Bro…. thats...” 

“I grabbed it when it fell from his hand…. It was… i had to…” 

“... Nah bro… Good work” he looked at the dusty bow. All they had left. “.... We have to go… They’ll figure out that he’s gone and… they might come looking for us.” 

“.... Snowdin?” Papyrus suggested “Maybe…. Grillby…” 

“...Yeah, bro. Sounds about right” Sans stood, lifting Papyrus with him “... I'm gonna use the shortcut…. I know i’m not to good at it yet but… I don't…” 

“Its okay, Sans… I don’t wanna either..” He burred his head into Sans’ shoulder, and watched as Sans’ one eye glowed brightly. , and he walked forward, feeling the pull of what they’d called “The Dark”. Tuffet had come up with that. They’d thought it was so cool. 

When they arrived in Snowdin, it was clear that nothing was open, further encouraging Sans’ theory that it was either real late or real early. He walked with Papyrus, trudging a bit in the not too deep show to Grillbys home, looking at it, and seeing, surprisingly, a bright flame in the living room window. 

Looking into the window, they made eye contact with the flame monster, who was obviously shocked to see them before rushing and opening the door

“Sans? Papyrus? What are you two doing here?” He stared down at the naked, scared Skeletons. Papyrus held up his hand with Tuffet's dusty hair bow, and Grillby’s flame crackled in shock. He ushered the boys in, and quickly wrapped them in a blanket on his overstuffed couch. His thoughts were racing, but he’d ask once they were warmed up. Their bones were chilled. 

Once they were settled, he sat on the couch next to them. 

“.... What happened?” He asked, and Papyrus started to babble on and on. He talked about a scientist that Grillby could have sworn he’d heard of, but had no recollection. He talked about how he’d created them, how he’d come to take them back, and how Tuffet had defended them, only to have been dusted by her wounds inflicted by him. He rambled on about how Sans knocked him into the Core and how they didn’t know where else to go.

He’d said a lot more than that, to be fair, but Grillby could only get the gist of what he was saying. Grillby raised his hand 

“Papyrus, Papyrus, its alright.You were smart to come here.” he assured him, reaching over to them. Papyrus leaned into Sans, and Sans finally looked up and at him. 

“.. We went with him so… so she wouldn’t die… but she died anyway…” He recalled “But if we’d stayed she woulda died then too…. There was no version of this where she lived… she was always gonna die” 

Grillby wasn’t sure what to say to make him feel better. Was there anything he could say? Probably not. So he just scooted over on the couch, and moved the boys into his lap. Sans almost instinctively leaned against him. He was shaking. They both were. Grillby felt himself shake a little too. What they’d told him felt outlandish, but he couldn’t accept it as anything less than truth. And, if Tuffet was gone, and her home condemned… they needed somewhere to call home. 

They’d all mourn together first, before he offered his roof over their head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go to http://asktuffandbros.tumblr.com for happier stuff and to ask Questions!


	17. FLEE::GENOCIDE ENDING: Far Too Young To Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pretty Lousy Ending, but not too bad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after this there is ONE. MORE. CHAPTER.

The human… had killed almost everyone. They were blazing through Hotland, toy knife in hand, killing any and everything they could get their little hands on. Sans hadn’t actually been anywhere near that part of Hotland since he left in a hurry with Papyrus all those years ago, but at this point, he had no choice. Usually he’d shortcut right into the capital, skip it altogether… but..

He walked at a tense but slow pace, every step feeling like it was echoing back to him. Walking through waterfall had been harder, in honesty, passing by Tuffet’s long forgotten house and looking in the window. He recalled good memories of movies and comfort. It felt so long ago. 15 years. Sans rarely left Snowdin most days, only leaving to go to his stalls and side businesses, which he usually shortcut to. Now in Hotland, his mind was starting to wander back to good times again. . .

His Personal phone was ringing. Alphys, probably. “heya” 

“S-sans! Th-the human is at the resort! W-we cleared… cleared out….” 

“The point, Alphys” He cut her off, knowing that if she started to ramble she’d start to cry, and as cruel as it sounded he just did not have time for that

“M-my camera shows them f-fighting one of the waitresses” She pointed out. 

“What? Which one? Reeve? Tunni?” 

“I-its one that j-just started a little while ago, uh…” There was a brief typing of keys “a spider n-named Tuffet Didot?” 

Sans nearly dropped his phone “... Tuffet…? Send me her file” he hung up. 

No, no. Tuffet was dead. She’d died almost 15 years ago. There was no way that the Tuffet currently on route to being murdered by the human was the spider from his memories. 

But still, he felt himself starting to walk faster. His phone went off again File, arrived. 

He opened the employee file and almost fell over when he saw the picture. 

The curely hair, the eyes, the red… 

He felt his voice get caught in his throat, his feet nearly tripped him as he started running, eye flashing, shortcut taken

And there she was. 

She was just as he’d imagine her to look, aged up. Clearly grown and covered in knicks and scrapes from the humans attacks. The sound of Sans porting in took both her and the human by surprise, and their black and white FIGHT coloration faltered. 

“...... Sans…..?” Her voice was shaking with exhaustion and disbelief. 

God, she even sounded the same. But his fractured joy, however much there was in his confusion, was short lived when the human caught Tuffet off guard, using the hilt of the knife and SMASHING it into the spider's face. Tuffet barely got a hold of the human before the impact, but by the time she shoved the human off with her three remaining arms it was too late, the black and white coloration of FIGHT magic was gone, and that meant one thing. 

The human looked at Sans, an empty smile on their features. They simply walked out of the restaurant. Sans wanted to follow, but the fact that Tuffet’s body hadn’t crumbled to dust yet was more than enough of a reason to make him stay. He fell to his knees, and gently - so gently- reached down and looked her over. 

The knife had done an alarming amount of damage to her face, breaking her open so thoroughly that she only had one, proper, functioning eye remaining. Three of her arms (her upper left, lower and middle right) were broken off, their dusted remains in little messes on the floor. There was a gaping hole in her right leg. She was cracked everywhere, including a nasty one leading to a hole over where a collar bone would be if she had bones. 

But, despite her glasses being completely shattered off her face, her remaining eye somehow focused on him. A broken, tired, lisped voice spoke to him. 

“...you’re a-live” She managed. Sans felt his sockets well up with tears. 

“.. i was… gonna say the same to you, Tuff” He tried, so, so desperately to keep a straight face, to keep a pleasant tone, but he couldn’t he just couldn’t

“..wh-where…” 

“Snowdin.. We… we live in Snowdin. Grillby took us in… I… killed Gaster” He explained. 

She let out a weak, breathy chuckle. He tried to check her stats

TUFFET  
HP 0  
LV 2  
ATTK 5

Fading fast. She’s so happy to see you, though.

“I… live in w-ater squ-are…..” She choked out, her body was starting to show signs that she’d overstayed her welcome, her small frame starting to fade. 

“...what?...I could…. We could have…” his nonexistent vocal chords just couldn’t produce sentences. He was shaking as parts of her broken frame started crumbling into dust, like sand in an hour glass. “I’m sorry…” He whimpered. He didn’t think he could feel this low again, not so soon after Papyrus’ death. 

In his glassy daze, a shaking hand, still small against his cheekbone after all these years, rested there. 

“I’m so happy… to see you..” she choked out, her face showing signs of crumbling with the rest of her body. 

Sans barely choked out a “me too” before her body seized, and it crumbled away in one, swift moment, her soul glowing for all but a moment before breaking and shattering to pieces along with her

As if he couldn’t feel any more empty, the darkness keeps growing  
\----  
Sans practically fell out of bed , happy that his mattress was so low to the ground that he didn’t injure himself. 

Panting, he sat up, desperately recalling the last reset.

She was….

He dressed faster than he had ever before and didn’t even waste time walking down the stairs, he just ported into the kitchen, where he startled papyrus into dropping his cereal bowl

“Gah!!! Sans!!” THe taller skeleton nearly started scolding, when he noticed Sans’ expression “.... We reset again?” He asked “I wasn’t sure…” 

“She’s alive” 

“What?” 

“.... Tuffet isn’t dead” 

There was a prolonged pause as Papyrus digested the three word phrase

“... but… her house…”

“She lives in water square” Sans answered him, His expression was mostly unreadable, but there was an undeniable hope that was radiating off of him. 

“Where, in water square, Sans?” 

“.... I don’t know, but we can go and … and ask her eye doctor?” 

“Doctor Kevgil?” papyrus thought carefully “...alright! Lets make sure this wasn’t just some reset glitch of somekind!” He picked up the cereal bowl and placed it in the sink “teh dog will eat this up before we return home i’m sure of it” 

“Pap, you’re enabaling the damn thing”

“I may not like it but i won’t let it go hungry” he said definitely. “Now, come on!” He grabbed his brother by the rib cage “You still remember where his office is?” 

“Yup” Sans answered, eye glowing bright cyan as his magic activated, and a rip in the void was opened papyrus practically jumped through, and the two of them were situated in Doctor Kevgil’s witing room. It had barely changed in the years since they’d been there. The receptionist - a different one, Sans noticed, stared incredulously at the brothers as Papyrus put him down and approached her 

“Good morning!! We need to speak to Doctor Kevgil, or whoever can give us one of his patients adresses! I am Papyrus, future member of the Royal

“Papyrus?” 

The two skeletons turned to the doctor, who, other than looking more like a 30 something, had hardly changed at all. Same haircut, same weird green apron. He looked like he was seeing ghosts

“.... She said you were dead” 

“...We thought the same thing. Please” Sans tried to casually request, but the vague desperation was palpable. 

“Deborah, take out Didots file and give them her address, now please” Kevgil requested, though the receptionist was already on it, and had the paper copies and handed to Papyrus in less than 30 seconds. 

“Thank you!” he said to deborah, then turned to the doctor “Thank you!!! This was the ressurance we needed!!” as if his smile couldn’t be brighter. Sans’ grin was strained it was so wide. 

“Thanks, doc. See you around” Sans and Papyrus left side by side, leaving the doc feeling better than he had in days

“... i kind of want to be there when they reunite. She might break her glasses again” 

Deborah rolled her eyes. 

\----

Standing in front of the door, Sans was essentially frozen there, his feet glued to the ground in his slippers. Papyrus put a hand on his shoulder

“Would you like me to knock?” He asked, looking down at his older brother

“... what if he was wrong?” Sans asked, clenching and unclenching his bony fists. 

“He wasn’t. She’s right here, Sans… we just have to get her to open the door… and pray she recognizes us… I mean, her eye doctor did. Surely she will!” Papyrus smiled as big as he could manage, and Sans nodded 

“Yeah, you’re right bro…” he reached a hand up, but Papyrus beat him to it, a loud, but firm knock on the apartment door. They’d climbed about 7 floors to this damn door. He hoped it was worth it. 

“One minute!!!” they heard, and Sans had a steal a glance at Papyrus to see his reaction to her voice. He almost looked starry eyed. 

“Just like how i imagined it..” he voiced Sans’ thoughts aloud. 

“Don’t cry yet bro, she hasn’t even opened the door” He reminded, and Papyrus collected himself briefly. 

The door was opened, and before them stood…. Her. 

She was… shorter, than Papyrus thought she would be. She was even shorter than Sans. But other than that, she looked exactly like he’d imagined her. Her long, curly hair tied back with a bow. He assumed some things just never changed. 

“.......uh……” she choked out just a syllable - her face was so alarmed at the skeletons before them. 

“...hey Tuff… Long time no se-ah!!” Sans and Papyrus were grabbed by six very desperate hands into a hug. 

“Oh my god….” she whimpered “oh my god….” 

The boys took no time at all to hug her, Sans grabbing at her, and Papyrus using those noodle arms to grab the both of them and move inside of her apartment. He sat them all down on her little couch.   
“Y-you’re alive….” Her voice was barely there. She was crying pretty bad. 

“.. And you are very tiny” Papyrus commented, though even his broad voice was cracking. Sans didn’t even try to speak, but he did chuckle slightly. Tuffet did too, reaching one of her hands to wipe her eyes

“... and you are very big” She commented 

“...lets catch up later” Papyrus nodded “Lets just… enjoy this”

“.... I couldn’t agree more” She concluded, and leaned into the brothers. 

This was the first time in nearly 15 years that she’d felt peaceful. She’d never let go again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want happier stuff? 
> 
> GO TO ASKTUFFANDBROS ON TUMBLR
> 
> I need some asks, bruh!


	18. FLEE :: PACIFIST ENDING : Things Have Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The FINAL ENDING
> 
> FLEE: PACIFIST

The sun was absolutely beautiful

When the announcement that the barrier had been broken hit the MTT Resort/Hotel. Everyone dropped /everything/ and went. Food was left, stoves in the kitchen remained on, all that jazz. 

Tuffet kept to the end of the crowd in an effort to not be trampled - being such a short woman that was a real worry, but she still kept up with the rush, going through the judgement hall, into the castle, and following the bright and beautiful red glow of the setting sun. 

She squeezed her way through the tight crowd, not even able to see the horizon, before making it to the front with the plea of “I’m short please move” 

When she spotted the sun, the trees, the city and the mountains in the distance, she was just as star struck as the rest. The sun was setting, she could tell, and the colors of the sky... god, the colors…

It was just like in those books...

No. 

It was infinitely better. 

She just wished that Sans and Papyrus were there with her. She reached into her pocket, where a piece of fabric she’d stitched together lay. Sans’ sweater and Papyrus scarf, to be exact. She’d taken two pieces off, and stitched them together into a bracelet in an effort to keep their memory alive. She wore it every day for years, until she started working at MTT resort, and people started asking about it. 15 years and she wasn’t ready to think about it too hard.

“Beautiful, ain’t it?” said an older voice beside her. She let out a startled squeak and turned 

"Gerson?” she recalled him vividly from her childhood

“Nice to see ya, little lady” the old turtle grinned at her “Been a while” 

Tuffet nodded “... I haven’t seen you since I was a bitty” 

“Back when you lived with those skeleton boys, yeah” he agreed further “Only figured that I’d see ya again when everybody was crawlin’ out” 

She chuckled “... Is it as nice as you remember?” She asked

“Oh darlin, its even better” he then laughed, patting her back. 

“...I just wish Sans and Papyrus were here…” she muttered, taking out the bracelet and looking at it fondly. Gerson gave her a bewildered look

“What I heard they were some a the first to see the surface!” he pointed out. She turned to face him, all of her eyes betrayed confusion. 

“... What?” 

“Yeah, they were with the human” Gerson raised an eyebrow at her trying to read her expression

“.............Where?”

He pointed towards the path to the forest, and off she went

“.... Wait did she think they were… Ahhhh that explains it!” He let out another laugh, patting the back of the nearest monster, who was knocked over. 

\---

After being convinced not to introduced himself to humanity just yet - he was told that they wanted to talk things like strategy and diplomacy first and would tell him what to do later- Papyrus decided to just enjoy the sun. 

It was just as warm as he’d imagined it to be, when he first saw it in a human movie at Tuffet's house

His hand absentmindedly went to his scarf, where he gripped a discolored section of fabric that looked like it was barely holding to the rest of it. He’d stitched and restitched that particular piece of fabric on over and over in the past 15 years. He’d refused to let it fall off, or to get a new scarf. When Undyne had tried to gift him a new one, he threw a fit the likes of which he’d never thrown before. The apologies had lasted days, and having to tell Undyne about what happened had made the wound unbelievably fresh. 

And that had happened just a month before the human had arrived. 

Looking out at the sun, he couldn’t help but think of all of his friends, current… and not...and how things would be hard, but would only get better from here on out. All of the struggles of the underground just melted away. He rubbed the scarf between his fingers 

“Nye…. you woulda loved this” He pondered, his eyes looking at the gentle hues and rolling clouds. He could feel tears at the edge of his sockets. He had so much to be happy about, so much joy in his heart, but there would always be that corner of his SOUL that held that grief, that sadness from so long ago. 

There was a hand on his other arm

“....Papyrus?”

He stilled his vague, bobbing motion that had been doing, and with a slight worry of madness, looked down. 

Her thick glasses caused an awful glare over her eyes, and there was no bow in her hair.. But mistaking her for anyone else would be him lying to himself in an absolutely ridiculous way. 

“Uh…. Tu…” 

“You’re so tall, Papy” She seemed just as shocked as he was “God, did Sans shoot up like this too…?” 

Papyrus didn’t respond, but got down on his knees. He was still taller than her like this. He gently grabbed her face

“You…. died of your wounds…” He spoke “Gaster said that … you’d died...and Sans… and we went to Snowdin…. And…” 

She reached an uppermost hand to the one holding her right cheek 

“... I received a letter - with… with Sans’ sweater… and… a piece of your scarf…” She responded “I moved to Water Square… I worked at the MTT resort” 

“....... WHAT????” Papyrus practically screamed “ARE YOU TELLING ME WE LIVED ABOVE YOU THIS WHOLE TIME???” 

“.... You lived with Grillby?” 

“.. Yes… We went to him.. And told him that you’d died…” His voice quieted. She could barely hear his next sentence

“Hm? Sweetheart, speak up” she asked, putting a hand on the side of his skull to focus his attention back on her “Lemme hear you, darling” 

“... If we’d bothered to go into the below ground… Maybe we coulda seen you...Wait, you said you worked at the MTT resort? Where?” 

“The restaurant”

“........” She watched him facepalm, his mitten making a funny pft! Sound as he dragged it down his face “Sans does stand up there once a month…”

“.... What?” 

And at that, Papyrus had started to laugh. It was quiet at first, but crescendo-ed into full blown “NYEHEHEHEHEHE”, and she just couldn’t help but laugh along, if not because his laugh was infectious, but at the absurdity of the lack of coincidence. 

During the laughter, the two pulled one another into a tight hug, not moving all that much as they descended into giggles. Papyrus heard a sniffle

“... Where is Sans, papy?” She asked. He hadn’t been called “Pappy” since he was a baby bones! But he’d let it slide. 

“I think he is with the human.” he responded, parting the hug “Have you met the human?”

“Believe it or not, I was at home during most of the humans travels. I got to work around the time they were in New home.” She explained, and watched Papyrus shake his head 

“You’ve always had the best worst timing” He contemplated getting up “Now, come! It is time for reunion!”

Tuffet took a deep, much needed breath and nodded, straightening out her uniform and following the tall skeleton’s long strides with a slight jog

“Dear, please, i’m small! You’re going too fast” 

Instead of just slowing down, he paused, picked up her by the waist and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “P-papy! Please!!” 

“Too slow!!” he replied, speed walking towards where he saw Sans talking with “Lady Asgore”. 

Tuffet huffed indignantly as she was carried

“SANS!!!” 

The smaller skeleton looked back, spotting the poofy skirt of whoever-the-hell it was he was carrying 

“Uh, bro? Whats this about?” He asked, turning around completely. 

Papyrus unloaded his precious cargo in front of him, and he stared for a few moments at the spider before the lights in his eyes pretty much disappeared 

“....Sans…?” She stepped forward, almost nervously. 

“.......” His eyelights returned, His grin widened “... Didn’t think i’d see the day when I have to look down at you”

Tuffet let out an offended noise “I’m - i’m only an inch shorter than you!” She pointed out, as if forgetting that this was the first time she’d seen him in 15 years…. And that she thought he was dead. 

“Well, i guess you still don’t find me humerus” He shrugged. She saw the tears pricking his sockets. 

“... tibia honest, doll… i loved your puns” She assured him, and gripped him in a tight hug. She didn’t even need to wait for him to hug her back. 

Toriel was a bit puzzled, for sure. 

Papyrus scooted around the reuniting duo, and whispered quickly to Toriel “They haven’t seen each other in 15 years” 

“..Ooh” Her eyes widened in understanding “Yes, that makes sense, alright” She nodded “I’m going to find Frisk” she turned, and left. 

Papyrus watched the two continue their quiet embrace a total amount of time equaling 6 minutes before he tapped Sans’ shoulder “Er, i mean, i’m happy to see her too, but you guys are gonna fall asleep standing like that” 

Tuffet let out a chuckle “well, we do need to talk about alot, huh?” She looked to the both of them

“There’s no arguing that” Sans noted “But first, we’re gonna enjoy the sunlight, hm?” 

“Thats a wonderful idea, Sans” Papyrus agreed. “...Tuffet?”

“I couldn’t agree more” She nodded, letting go of Sans, and looking out beyond the forest “.... I’m happy I get to see this with you” 

They didn’t answer back. They didn’t need to

They just relaxed and bathed in the golden rays of sunlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much for reading!!!! I never expected this fic to be so popular! At least, by my very low standards. 
> 
> If you'd like to see the continued adventures post the ACT/Pacifist Ending, go to Tumblr and ask questions over on asktuffandbros! 
> 
> This Fic WILL BE REWRITTEN in the future, but i got some shit to get out of the way first
> 
> One Shot recommendations are being taken!


	19. Authors Note: On Rewriting

So, looking back, I am very proud of myself for finishing this fic, but after rereading it I know that I could to much, much better

So i’m going to start rewriting huge chunks of this. Nothing *should* be reconnected, but I will be adding things, (maybe even a new chapter or two), fixing some of the dialogue and action, and filling in any plot holes i might find. This is where you can help me, however! 

If you like ACAS, but wanted more of a certain plot point (Tuffet’s parents? more Grillby? Asgore? More detail in their home life?) please, leave a comment or send me an ask! 

I'm going to be taking a long time to do this, so don't expect the chapters to come out that soon!


	20. The Rewrite Update!!

The update has its own separate work on AO3 for the sake of posterity 

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8618920/chapters/19762795

Enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so i literally just wrote this??? i don't know if i'll continue it but i feel like it could go places
> 
> NOTE: For the most part the story is going to be from Sans' point of view after this. Now that Tuffet has been established I really don't need to stick with her for the rest of the story. It'll switch up as it needs, but it'll remain in the third person.


End file.
